Escalation
by heroman45
Summary: A young Goku finds himself in a land of magic after an incident with the Dragon Balls rips him away from his home. In a strange new world, he encounters a red haired girl on the run from her past.
1. The Encounter

Escalation

**AN: This story is spawned from events that took place in another story of mine, Superhuman Fight Club. Feel free to check that one out after your done here. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Thanks to S&amp;D for Betaing. **

Chapter 1- The Encounter

Shockwaves of pure energy were sent blasting through the multiverse after the collision between the two gods. The destruction of the Infinity Gauntlet disrupted the balance of power in reality itself, altering the lives of every single thing it touched. Ripples rushed across a million different realms, dimensions, worlds, and universes, changing everyone it touched in some way. But of course, some changes are more significant than others.

In one dimension, Clark Kent truly became the nerdy reporter he was always trying to be. In another a spider themed hero was able to successfully thwart an attempt to switch his body and murder him. In a third, a demon fox overwhelmed the attempts to trap it within a child and leveled the entire village. A white haired man and his raven haired protégé lead the survivors on the path to rebuilding their home, eventually allowing them to become the strongest village their world had ever seen. On a fourth world, a chicken decided against crossing a road, thus eliminating an endless supply of tasteless jokes from ever existing.

It is in a fifth world where this story begins. A small ten year old boy was trekking back towards his mountain home after managing to catch a fish large enough to be considered supper. Said fish was nearly three times the size of the ten year old carrying it, and had been caught while attempting to snag the child's tail. Checking the sky, the boy increased his pace slightly, wanting to be home before the full moon came out. He didn't want to accidently run into the monster that killed his Grandpa Gohan.

When the boy reached his home he set up a fire to cook the fish and went inside his small shack. The only furnishings to be found were a small bed and a shrine with an orange ball stars sitting on top of it. The four red stars gleamed on it's surface in the dying daylight. The boy walked straight up to the shrine and kneel down before the ball.

"Hi Grandpa, I hope you are doing alright in there. I really miss being able to talk to you. Don't worry, I'm doing alright. I even caught a really big fish today! It should keep my tummy nice and full for a whole day! I would give you some, but the last time I did that it just sat there until it went bad, so I don't think that you can eat in there. I've been practicing all of the fighting moves you've taught me and I think I'm getting loads better! I beat up one of the dinosaurs that live in the woods this morning!"

The orange ball made no response, yet the boy seemed content to just continue talking. He chatted with the ball for the entire twenty minutes it took for his meal to cook, and then returned to continue telling of his day the minute he finished eating. Eventually he grew tried, and with a lazy wave the child went to bed. By the time the full moon rose above him, the young boy was sleeping soundly.

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In another realm a different child was staring up at the moon. The red haired nine year old had just barely escaped a slave camp where she had been forced to work from sun up to sun down every single day in an attempt to construct a magical tower. In a fit a desperation she picked up a sword and led the prison's first and only revolt. She had nearly succeeded in freeing everyone, only to be betrayed by her best friend and made out to be the enemy.

Instead of fighting their way to freedom together like she had dreamed of every night, she had been cast adrift, stuck on a small boat with no guarantee of surviving back to the mainland. It had taken her more than a day to maneuver the ship back to shore safely only to find herself on a deserted beach that led into a massive forest and no sign of civilization. With no options available to her, the girl had entered the woods in an attempt to find someone that could help her. Her one good eye constantly scanned her surroundings, never letting her guard down for a second. The betrayal was still fresh in her mind, and now that she was alone there was absolutely no way she would allow herself to relax again.

By the time night had come around she had already forced herself to travel nearly a dozen miles through the woods without a single break. When she had finally stopped for the night, the first thing she did was collapse onto her back. Her lone eye stared up at the sky to drink in the sight of the moon as it cast it's pale light across the forest. The sight reminded her of nights where she and her friends had gazed up at the sky from their jail cell, dreaming of freedom. Now she had finally found it, the girl wanted nothing more than to be back in the cell with the people she loved. She didn't care about being free anymore if there wasn't anyone for her to share it with. With tears trailing down her face, the girl rolled onto her side and slept.

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The young boy had woken up shortly after dawn, intent of spending the morning training before he needed to track down more food. After grabbing his red staff and attaching the sheath to his back he took the first step out of his home, hoping to find something to fight. Instead he caught sight of a strange discoloration in the air above him. The distortion was a sickly green and was gradually expanding around the area above him. The light slowly grew brighter and brighter, practically boiling the air until it exploded in a colorful flash. When the energy faded away there was nothing more than a crater where the boy and the house had stood. Several more of these explosions happened around the world, leaving half a dozen other craters scattered across the planet.

This world would later be put in peril when a green skinned demon rose up to take over. Without any heroes to match him the planet fell to his rule for nearly a decade until a long haired alien arrived. Enraged at being unable to find the person he was looking for, the alien slayed the demon along with every single living being he could find on the planet. The world was later sold to an intergalactic conqueror who turned it into his 94th vacation home. The tiny alien lived there comfortably for three years until he died at the hands of his gold haired lieutenant. So it goes…

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The young girl glared at the group of men surrounding her. Five men, all clearly part of some sort of bandit gang. They were currently discussing how much they would be able to sell her to their connection in the underground slave trade.

"Seriously man, just looking at her I can tell she'll be a dime when she grows up! I bet we can probably push for an extra grand with her!"

"No way, she's damaged goods. See that eye patch? We would be lucky to get the regular full price in the shape she's in. It looks like she hasn't eaten anything in days, she can barely stand up."

The red head scowled at this. They were right. Between the rebellion, her journey on the boat, and the trek through the forest she was quickly approaching her physical limit. She hadn't eaten any food in nearly three days and had barely been able to find herself enough water to keep going. She had no weapons, no supplies, and the only piece of clothing she wore was practically a repurposed pillowcase. The men around her were all wearing some type of light leather armor and wielding large spiked maces. They had come across her small camp in the early morning, catching her by surprise before she even had the chance to fully wake up. Now they were talking about her like she wasn't even there… like she wasn't even a threat to them! Not only that, they were planning on selling her straight back into slavery like what she had just escaped! She wouldn't let that happen, not after everything that she had already gone through! She would not let them take her! THEY WOULDN"T TAKE HER!

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Calling on the raging energy that had allowed her to escape from the tower, she screamed. The sudden release of the girl's power caught all of the men off guard. An aura of light purple energy caught all five men's weapons, ripping them all from their grasps and smashing them into each other's heads. The weapons then began flying as if wielded by phantoms, hammering into the men far harder than any 9 year old had a right to hit. All five ended up being pounded into the ground in a matter of seconds. Completely spent, the young girl collapsed to her knees. Her head hung down as she tried desperately to catch her breath. her vision was already blurring, such a huge burst of power was far too much for her to safely manage in such horrible shape. She doubted she would even be able to stand for the next few hours.

"Well damn, you're a tough bitch aren't you?" The girls eye widened in shock as she looked up to see one of the bandits standing over her, a blue glow covering both of his hands.

"Too bad you didn't know that I'm a mage as well, otherwise you might have had a shot. Now though, you are at your limit and I'm going to cash you in. Mages at your age can go for quite a pretty penny." The bandit brought his hands together, the blue energy combining to form a single pulsing sphere.

"Alright bitch, time to go to sleep!" The bandit's leapt forward to strike, intent on knocking the girl out before she could recover. The red head merely closed her eye, accepting yet another miserable turn in her short life.

"POWER POLE, EXTEND!" The girl's eye snapped back open when she heard the yell, regaining her focus just in time to see a red bo staff smash into the side of her attacker's face. The man was sent sprawling backwards and the energy from his attack dispersed harmlessly back into the air. The man returned to his feet just in time to receive a flying kick to the face from a young boy with spiky black hair. The bandit was immediately knocked unconscious, the surprise attack having left him no time to defend. After a quick glance around at the other bandits, the boy turned to the young girl, offering her a hand with a wide grin.

"Hi! I'm Son Goku, what's your name?" The girl looked at the hand for a moment before clasping it, allowing the boy to help her to her feet.

"My name is Erza. Erza Scarlet."


	2. Friends?

Chapter 2: Friends?

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Goku picked himself up off the ground from where the explosion had thrown him. He counted himself lucky, since his face had broken his fall and protected his tail. Getting to his feet the young boy looked around, blinking the spots out of his eyes.

He hadn't a clue what that explosion was, but he did know one thing; he was definitely not in the mountains anymore. His Grandpa's hut laid at the base of a huge tree, one of many that covered the area. It appeared that he had ended up in an enormous forest. The ground surrounding the hut looked freshly dug up, as though the house had been thrown there and destroyed everything that laid in that space before it. Grabbing his power pole from his satchel, the young boy began to venture out to try and figure out what had happened.

"I bet it was some nasty old witch! Grandpa always warned me about them, they probably want to get all of my fish!" Goku continued exploring outward, scanning the area for several minutes. He didn't recognize any of the plant life, and the terrain was strange to him as well. Living in the mountains, he had become accustomed to seeing far out over the horizon. All of the trees made him feel quite cramped. However, the discomfort and confusion were immediately forgotten once he noticed a plant covered in small green beans.

"Oh boy, food! I'm so hungry! I wonder how they taste…" Goku picked one of the beans off of the bush and popped it into his mouth. While the bean lacked flavor, he suddenly felt as though his entire body was filled with energy and his stomach was full.

"Whoa! It's gotta be some kind of magic bean! My tummy doesn't feel empty anymore, it's like I ate an entire lake full of fish! Whoo hoo!" Goku started running around, excited by his newfound discovery.

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Goku stopped jumping around as he heard a high pitched scream behind him. He turned to see a purple glow emanating from deep within the woods. Goku stretched out his senses in an attempt to discover what was going on, and the sounds of combat reached his ears shortly afterward.

"Oh boy! A fight!" The boy launched himself into the air, jumping through the trees like a monkey until he reached the source of what he'd heard. There were several unconscious figures lying on the ground around a small child with red hair, and a very angry looking man was standing over her. Goku looked from the child to the man in indecision, unsure of who to attack. As the man went forward to strike the red head, Goku decided that he was the bad guy.

"POWER POLE, EXTEND!" Goku slammed the pole into the man's face, knocking him down and away from the girl. He then launched himself forward to deliver a hard kick, knocking the bandit out just as he was beginning to get up. The spiky haired boy quickly glanced around at the other bandits to make sure they were out cold. He noticed one of them was still groaning, so he smacked that one on the head before turning to the red headed girl, who was staring up at him. Goku gave the her a grin and held out his hand.

"Hi! I'm Son Goku, what's your name?" The girl looked at his hand for a moment before clasping it, allowing the boy to help her to her feet.

"My name is Erza. Erza Scarlet."

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Erza stood carefully, worried that her body would give out on her again if she moved too fast. She furrowed her brow as the boy started poking the bandit leader's face with his staff.

"What are you doing?"

"I was hoping that he would get back up so we could fight some more, that wasn't very fun. He went down way too easy." Goku pouted and shoved his staff into the bandit's nose one last time before giving up. He turned back to look over to Erza, who was looking at him funny.

"You just attacked a group of bandits for fun?"

"Well it looked like you needed help too. Oh yeah! I forgot to ask, are you okay? You look like they really beat you up!" Erza's look of confusion quickly morphed into a scowl.

"They did not beat me up! I've just had nothing to eat in a few days so I'm very hungry! If I was at full strength I would have beaten them just like-"

Erza cut herself off and looked down at the ground. She had promised to not tell anybody about what had happened at the tower. She had been told that if she started talking about her time there, her friends would be killed. Even telling this one boy in the middle of nowhere could lead to the deaths of all of those she cared about. Luckily for her, it appeared that Goku had only caught part of what she said. His eyes were bulging out and there was an expression of horror on his face.

"You haven't eaten in DAYS?!" he exclaimed, tears starting to gather in his eyes at the thought.

"I don't think I could go a single day without eating! Come on, I'll give you one of my magic beans!" Goku grabbed her by the hand before she had a chance to respond, and began dragging her back the way he came. Erza struggled desperately to stay on her feet as the energetic boy pulled her along at high speeds, her body barely able to keep up. They came to a stop a minute later when Goku saw the same bush he had eaten from earlier. He picked one of the beans off the bush, examined it for a moment, then abruptly turned around and shoved it into the tired girl's mouth.

Not expecting the move, Erza was barely able to swallow the bean without choking on it. Much like Goku, she was instantly filled with a burst of energy. The redhead watched in shock as her body completely repaired itself, and her stomach was left feeling completely full. She spent several seconds examining herself, trying to see whether she was truly healed or if it was some sort of illusion. Her hand trembling, the young mage brought her hand up to her eye patch. She unwrapped the bandages around her head, and all of her doubts vanished in an instant. Her eye worked, it had been healed!

"Thank you, thank you so much for healing me!" Goku just grinned back at the girl, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. With her thanks now out of the way, Erza turned her attention to another subject. The sound of her hand smacking his face was loud enough to startle the birds for miles around. They all took to the sky, cawing in terror as the redhead began yelling at her unsuspecting victim.

"Whether you healed me or not, you shouldn't just shove food into a girl's face! It doesn't matter if you were just trying to be helpful, it is still incredibly rude! Were you never taught any manners?" Goku's face changed to a dumbfounded expression, but not for the reason Erza was expecting.

"Wait, you're a girl? A real girl? I've never met a girl before! Grandpa always said that if I ever met a girl I should be on my best behavior and be as polite as I possibly can!"

"Wait, you're saying you've never seen a girl before?"

"Besides Grandpa, you're the only other human I've ever met!"

"The only… you've been that isolated your whole life?!"

Goku completely ignored her question. Instead, he was walking around the astonished girl, examining her from every angle.

"So do girls not have tails then? Are there other differences besides that?" Erza's eyes immediately jumped to Goku's lower back, where she had finally noticed the brown monkey tail that was poking out from the top of his pants. How had she completely missed that before?

"Why do you have a tail?! People don't have tails!"

"Nuh uh! All little boys have tails; they just fall off when we get older. My grandpa told me so."

"There is no way that's true! I've spent months with other boys our age and none of them had tails!" Erza reached out and grabbed the tail, yanking it up to her eye level to for closer examination.

Goku froze, and giving a small yelp of pain he slowly fell forward, face-planting on the ground.

Erza blinked, not quite sure what to make of the situation. Her hand unconsciously loosened and Goku's tail slipped free, falling to the ground besides him. Goku lay unmoving for a few minutes before he finally snapped out of his pain filled stupor and returned to his feet.

"Owwwww" he groaned, gently clutching his tail. "That really hurt. It was weird, like all the energy in my body was being squeezed out of me." For the first time since Erza had met him, Goku wasn't smiling. He was looking at his tail like a kicked puppy, sadness etched in his features. Erza continued to watch him in silence. She was unsure of what had happened, yet she felt very much responsible for it. Goku looked up at Erza again, maintaining his shell-shocked expression.

"Please don't tell anyone about that. I want to be the strongest in the world like my Grandpa was. If people knew about what happens with my tail, I'll never become as strong as he is. I'll never win another fight again." Erza immediately nodded her head, seeing how easily such a weakness could be used to defeat him.

"I am very sorry for my actions. I truly did not mean to hurt you like that. I beg your forgiveness, please strike me as punishment!" Goku's attention was quickly drawn away from his tail towards the young girl.

"Hit you? You mean like a fight? Alright, awesome!" Goku instantly lashed out, catching Erza off-guard. The last thing she saw was a tree flying towards her head. Then there was nothing.

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Erza returned to consciousness with a pounding headache. Her eyes opened slowly, taking in her new surroundings. She was no longer out in the woods. Instead she appeared to be inside some sort of hut. The redhead rose to her knees slowly, and glanced around the small room. She paused at the sight of Goku devouring a fish more than twice his size. He gave her a cheerful wave and passed her a small plate of food before turning back towards his own. Erza had to turn her back on him in order to eat without losing her appetite. Only when Goku finished filling his black hole of a stomach were they able to resume conversation.

"How did you hit me so hard? I've never felt a blow as powerful as that one before. I was only expecting you to leave a bruise at most."

"I already told you, I'm training to become as strong as my Grandpa. He was really powerful, and I want to be just like him."

"I must apologize for underestimating you. It will not happen again. So is this your Grandpa's house? Where is he? Also, why did you bring me here in the first place? We were right next to a magic bush that could heal wounds."

"I can get a feel for energy, and I wasn't sure if it would be safe to take more than one at a time. I didn't want to accidently kill you or something. You went down way too easy before, I still want to fight you! I brought you here because it was getting dark out. I wasn't sure if the moon was full tonight or not. I brought you in here so that the monster can't get us."

"Monster? What monster?"

"Grandpa always told me about a giant monster that came out on the nights of the full moon. He said I should never be outside on those nights, or he might get me."

"Don't tell me you actually believed him! That's the kind of stories old people tell kids to make sure they go to bed on time! Where is your Grandpa? I bet if I talk to him I could get him to tell you the truth, that there is no monster!"

"There is too a monster! You can't ask my Grandpa about him because it killed him! I found him all squished up and bloody inside of a massive footprint!" Erza paled at this comment, she had just insulted a dead man. Goku didn't seem to care though, as he continued speaking.

"He died fighting the monster so I bet he was happy. Besides, his spirit is in the Dragon Ball right over there." Erza looked over to where Goku had indicated and saw an orange ball with four red stars sitting on a pedestal in the back of the hut.

"Your Grandpa's spirit is inside that thing? What is it?"

"My Grandpa told me this story a while ago, about how there are seven Dragon Balls and whoever can gather all seven together will be granted any wish!" The disbelief on Erza's face sailed blissfully over Goku's head. He continued chatting to her about the Dragon Balls for several minutes, while Erza began to contemplate whether or not it would be wise for her to slip out of the house during the night. She had no idea if the boy would be willing to leave, or if he might prevent her from accomplishing her goals in some way.

Goku's talking was suddenly cut off as the boy collapsed backwards, taking the young girl by surprise. He seemed to have fallen asleep in the middle of his sentence. She stared at him for a moment, checking to see if he was truly asleep. When he did not rise, Erza decided that she might as well spend the night in the hut and gather her strength. She needed to be at her best to complete her journey safely. She had made a promise, and she was planning on keeping it. Tomorrow, she would continue her search for Fairy Tail.


	3. The Living Weapon

AN: Wow, can't believe how quick this caught on. In two chapters exceeded the level of popularity that my first story took about 16 chapters to reach. How about that? Thanks for reading, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.

AN2: Yes I'm aware that Korin usually needs to be the one who makes the Senzu beans. However, I see no real reason that magic beans cannot grow in a world made up of magic.

Cause it's magic.

Besides, only have three uses planned out for them in the story, the first of which was fixing Erza's eye. Do not expect them to be used much. That would just end up getting boring. Anyways, here is chapter 3 everyone, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. If I did, I wouldn't be stressing out about college loans.

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Chapter 3: The Living Weapon

Goku's first night in Earthland didn't pass smoothly for him. He had been snapped awake shortly after Erza drifted off.

Something was wrong.

There were many things about this new place that he found odd. He couldn't hear the mountain winds blowing, the food tasted different, even the air tasted slightly different. He decided that before he tried going back to sleep, he should take a walk. After checking out the window to see if the moon was full, which it wasn't, he made his way towards the door. Looking over at the redhead to make sure she was asleep, Goku edged his way out of the cabin.

He truly had no idea what was going on, and as the excitement of meeting someone new began to fade away, a worrying feeling replaced it. Where exactly had he ended up? What was that giant flash of light? How had he gotten here?

Goku stopped to consider everything that had happened, attempting to make heads or tails of his situation.

After a few minutes, he just shrugged. He had no clue, so there was no point worrying about it.

He had always been quick to adapt, he had figured out how to care for himself very quickly after Grandpa Gohan had passed away. This wasn't too different, he just needed to adapt to a new living area this time. If anything, things were even better now! He had gotten into a fight almost as soon as he had arrived, even though it wasn't a very good one, and he had made a new friend. His very first friend!

Smiling at that thought, Goku returned inside and laid down next to Erza, quickly returning to his slumber. Almost immediately the boy's mind was assaulted by strange dreams. The boy dreamed of a blue haired woman and a talking pig, traveling with him across the mountains on an adventure. On their adventure they found a large sea turtle that asked them to return it to the ocean. He dreamed of an ancient man with a turtle shell on his back, yelling something as he fired a blue beam of pure energy. Goku marveled at the attack, never before in his life had he seen anything quite so powerful. The beam hit a flaming mountain, reducing it to rubble.

Goku just had to know this technique, it was the coolest thing he had ever seen in his entire life. The dream flashed forwards, this time showing Goku. Goku cried and the same technique as the old man and fired his own version of the attack. While it was far smaller, it was still able to destroy the blue haired woman's bike thing like it was cardboard. Still though, Goku's subconscious refused to let him hear the name. The move appeared again and again, flashing through decades of time, showing Goku grow tall and powerful and using that technique to win dozens of battles. Then he was back at the mountain and the old man was speaking to him again. He called the technique the "Turtle Destruction Wave", but that wasn't the name he had cried out. The man's muscles bulged, and he cupped his hands close to his side as he chanted.

Kaaa

Mee-

BOOOOOM!

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Erza opened her eyes just as the sun began to peek over out the horizon. She carefully rose to her feet, staying quiet as to avoid waking her companion. She had rested enough, today she needed to continue her journey to Magnolia so that she could join Fairy Tail.

However, she was unsure of what to do about Goku. She was surely indebted to him after everything he had done for her. He'd saved her, healed her, fed her, and opened his home to her. If she left now, there was no guarantee that they would even cross paths again.

She was not the kind of person who left debts unpaid.

She felt that the simplest solution would be to get the boy to travel with her, but how could she convince him to leave his only home and drag him out of years of isolation? Would he be willing to go, or would he refuse her offer?

Erza certainly didn't want to leave him, he was the first person to help her since she had escaped from the tower. Now that the others thought that she betrayed them…he was the only real friend she had left.

Erza maneuvered her way around Goku and exited the cabin, stretching out her stiff joints in the orange glow of the sun. She carefully considered her options, looking for an argument that could persuade Goku to set out from his home.

He said he wanted to become stronger. Rob had told her that Fairy Tail was home to many strong fighters. Perhaps they would make worthy opponents for Goku to test his strength against.

The redhead smiled. Perhaps she would convince Goku to come with her after all.

"THERE SHE IS!"

The shout drew her from her thoughts. She turned and saw a group of men emerging from the woods. Leading the pack was the mage that Goku had knocked out the day before, the leader of the group that had tried to capture and enslave her.

"See boss, I told you that she couldn't have gotten far. Hey look, she even got her eye fixed up for us! Now we don't need to sell her at a discount!" Erza craned her neck to look behind the mage, searching the crowd for this 'boss'. She didn't have to wait long as one of them stepped forward, pushing past the other man.

"Yes Dilvak…quite good for us…but her friend…where is he?" Their leader was massive to say the least. His entire body bulged with muscles, and he stood a full head above any of his men. He was quite the giant, especially compared to the small girl in front of him. His voice was deep a raspy, as though he gargled gravel during his free time. It grated on Erza's ears, but his words only enhanced the smile on the thugs face.

"Yeah girl, where is the little bastard that ambushed me? I want to have some words with that little punk before we sell him!" While Dilvak was talking the rest of the men began to spread out, making a half circle around her that left the cabin to her back.

"My friend is sleeping right now, I would appreciate it if you could keep your cries of pain to a minimum while I beat you into the ground. I don't want to accidentally wake him up." The slavers broke out in laughter as they drew their weapons, seeing nothing before them but an easy victory. The leader stared at the young girl for a moment before taking a seat on a nearby boulder.

"Rough her up… as much as you want…but I want them both…alive." Dilvak and his men waited for their boss to disappear from sight before they made their move. As soon as he was gone, they attacked her all at once. Erza charged straight towards her attackers, leaping up and slamming her fist into the first man's face. She latched onto him as he fell, stealing the weapon from his hands as they impacted on the ground. She rolled away from him, dodging another man's attack and countering with a kick to the shin. The bandit fell over and gave Erza a clean shot at his head. The girl liberated the man's short sword from his unconscious body, and within minutes her twin blades had slashed their way through more than half of the slavers' numbers. Dilvak had backed off the second his comrades started falling, watching the battle from a distance.

He raised his arms and smirked, his palms aglow with magical power, and aimed straight at Erza. The girl was focused on parrying the attacks of three men that had cornered her near the door to Goku's cabin, leaving her completely unaware of the true threat.

"TRY THIS BITCH! BLASTER CANNON!" Erza had knocked down the very last of the men just as Dilvak's shout reached her ears. She turned just in time to see a glowing orange cannonball heading straight for her face.

"KYA!" Erza shrieked as she threw herself to the side to avoid the blast. The attack kept going, and Erza watched in horror as it struck Goku's house and detonated.

BOOOOOM!

The front wall of the building was gone, leaving the remains of the house to collapse in on itself in a giant pile of splinters and stone. Erza stared in shock at the wreck, stared at the spot where she knew her friend was crushed beneath.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Erza whipped around to face Dilvak, sparks of rage dancing across her eyes, and tears streaming down her face.

"HEY! WHO BLEW UP GRANDPA'S HOUSE?" Erza and Dilvak looked back towards the house in disbelief. Pushing his way out of the ruins was none other than Goku, not a single scratch on his body. The Power Pole was clutched tightly in his hand, and his eyes were hard with anger as he glared at Dilvak.

"It was you wasn't it? You tried to hurt Erza, and now you've gone and blown up Grandpa's house! You're a very a bad person. I think I'm going to hit you now." Dilvak chose not to waste time, raising his arms once more.

"BLASTER CANNON!"

Goku stood his ground and raised the Power Pole like a baseball bat. Erza bit back a yell, she wanted to tell him to dodge it. However, the look on his face and the easiness he sank into his fighting stance told her that he'd been in this situation before. She decided to trust his judgement.

"HAAH!" Goku swung the staff with all of his strength, the magical weapon smacking the magic energy ball away, aimed right back towards its source. Dilvak had just enough time to widen his eyes with shock before the blast smashed into his stomach. The man let out a grunt of pain as he was thrown into one of the trees. The thick trunk shattered on the impact, and Dilvak slid to the ground unconscious. Erza walked over to him, checking for any signs that he was still a threat. Finding none, she slammed her heel down onto his crotch, a smirk on her face.

"You should have learned the first time, I will never be a slave. Never again." Erza walked back towards Goku, looking to him with amusement as he went around poking the men she had taken down with his staff. Finding none of them awake to entertain him, Goku wandered back over to the ruins of his home, digging around in the rubble until he pulled out the 4 star Dragon Ball.

"I am…most disappointed." The two kids turned around to see the nearly forgotten leader rising from his boulder.

"I expected my men...to be capable of defeating you. Instead though...now you shall face…Ajax the Armor!" At the man's cry his muscles swelled, bulging out even more ridiculously, a silver liquid pouring out from his skin, covering him completely. The liquid solidified over every part of his body, encasing him in a suit of quicksilver armor. Spikes and blades appeared all over him, even the inside of his mouth turned metallic, his teeth sharpening like those of a shark. Goku held his staff at the ready, and Erza brought both of her liberated blades to bare.

For a moment, none of them moved, each side trying to find the perfect moment to strike.

Then they began.

Erza closed in first, lashing out with her blades towards the man's chest. The sharp steel impacted with the man's strange metal, leaving deep grooves on its surface. Ajax countered, growing a massive scythe-like blade from his elbow and slashing it towards the girl. Erza hopped out of the way and Goku took her place, blocking the blade with his staff. He expertly swung it sideways, knocking the dark mage off balance and landing a powerful downward strike to his head. The staff bounced off Ajax's armor uselessly, and the metal man punted Goku across the clearing. As he straightened, the cuts across his chest sealed themselves, leaving his armor shiny and unmarked once more.

Ajax charged forwards, slashing out with a flurry of blades towards both kids with a wild abandon. Erza parried the attacks with a mastery that didn't befit her age, gracefully dodging and countering at every move. Goku lacked the same experience with weapons, but he was also able to hold his own. He ducked underneath a slash at his neck and swung his staff wildly in an attempt to fend the metal man off.

Ajax was not a skilled fighter, but he didn't need to be. His regenerating armor and his incredible brute strength had always overpowered his more skilled opponents. This fight was no exception. Neither of the kids were a match for the muscled giant, they couldn't get through his armor and they weren't strong enough to overpower him.

Goku mistimed a block and received a small gash across his chest for his trouble. He gritted his teeth at the sudden pain, using it to motivate himself to take the offensive. Goku dodged underneath the next slash and swung upwards with the Power Pole, catching the man under the chin.

"POWER POLE EXTEND!" With the staff still lodged under his neck, Ajax suddenly found himself being lifted far above the clearing. Then just as fast as it extend, the weapon shrunk back to its normal size, allowing the giant man to fall to the ground and smash down on top of one of the bushes. Goku grinned in victory at the move, until Erza suddenly smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Goku pouted at her.

"You idiot, you just launched him onto the plant that grew the magic beans! He flattened it! Now we can't use them to heal ourselves anymore!"

"Oh…hehe my bad." The kids watched from a distance as Ajax picked himself up, his armor unmarked once more. The man's right arm suddenly shifted, extending outwards and sharpening into a massive broadsword. His other arm morphed as well, extending outwards into what appeared to be a giant crossbow, except it lacked any sort of string. The man's eyes were focused solely on Goku. He seemed to be completely ignoring everything else, including Erza as she charged forwards and swung both of her blades at his face.

The swords created sparks from the force of the impact, but this time there was no visible damage on the armor. Instead, both of Erza's blades shattered, the shards of the weapons falling to the ground in an arc of sparkling fragments. Erza looked down in shock at the useless handles of her swords. Smirking at her, Ajax smashed his foot into her chest with an audible crack, sending the redhead hurtling into a tree.

"Erza!" Goku attempted to go aid his friend, but was halted as a giant metal crossbow bolt slammed down in front of him. Ajax was transforming his armor into projectiles, shooting arrows of quicksilver at the boy.

Ajax began firing the bolts at a rapid rate, gradually increasing his speed to keep his target off balance. Goku deflected the first few shots with his staff, but the rate of fire continued to increase, and soon he found himself backing up in an attempt to increase the time between shots. Seeing Goku's tactic of retreat, Ajax doubled his shooting speed.

Goku dived sideways to avoid a shot that would have impaled him, and rolled out of the way of another that pierce the spot he landed. Goku was on his feet a second later, but it was too slow. The metal bolt in front of him suddenly transformed, shifting itself into a massive hand that seized him by the leg.

Goku struggled with all his might, but nothing he did could get him loose from the trap. Ajax transformed both of his arms back to their normal metallic look and walked over, analyzing the boy in front of him.

"The boy…has a flaw…would make him harder to sell. Remove the flaw…fix the problem. Just have to...cut it off." Ajax grabbed Goku by the hair, turning him around to look at the tail on Goku's back. Then in a swift movement, he chopped it right off.

WAAAAAH!" Goku let out a cry of pain as the limb fell to the ground. The tail twitched wildly as it suddenly died, leaving nothing but a tiny stump on Goku's back. A metallic fist crashed into Goku's jaw, slamming his mouth shut and knocking him to the ground. Ajax towered over his prone body, chuckling quietly to himself as Goku tried to get back up. The bandit shifted his arm into a giant clamp, latching onto the boy so he could carry him back to his base. Now all he had to do was figure out where the girl had landed…

"HYAAA!" The giant man was knocked sideways as Erza smashed a massive mace into the side of his head. The young girl quickly dragged the groggy Goku away from him, clutching her ribs in pain as she moved. Goku sat up a moment later, rising shakily to his feet as he tried to get used to his new sense of balance.

"Only silly children…keep fighting when they are outmatched…they don't realize they cannot win against a living weapon!"

"A living weapon…oh." Erza stood up and stared at him for a moment. Then she smirked, a dangerous light appearing in her eyes. Ajax cocked an eyebrow at the redhead, not realizing what she was thinking.

"I only recently discovered my magic, but I do understand it. I can control weapons with my mind. Do you know what that means Mr. Weapon?" Erza flicked her hands out, and suddenly Ajax staggered backward. He looked down to see his bare chest instead of armor. He quickly resealed the gap, but the damage was done.

"Goku, I'll punch holes in his armor, you punch him." Goku nodded in understanding and darted forwards, dodging around Ajax's attacks and waiting for an opening. The metal clad giant swung his sword forward, but Erza flicked it aside, creating another gap in the process. The Power Pole slammed into the gap, cracking ribs and forcing a dribble of blood out of the bandit's mouth. Erza struck again, this time leaving Ajax's head exposed. He desperately threw up his arms to block the rapid attacks of the young boy, stopping the staff and kicking out wildly to knock him to the ground. The bandit spun on his feet, turning from his downed opponent and charging towards the true threat, the child that had somehow found a weakness in his impenetrable defense.

Erza allowed him to get two steps closer before she unleashed all of her remaining power at him. Ajax suddenly found himself flying upwards in the air, a purple aura surrounding him. Then the girl slammed him down, creating a massive crater in the ground as he impacted. Then she lifted him back up and did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Ajax's armor was in shambles, most of it destroyed and the remnants were left hanging uselessly off of his body. The man was barely conscious, his body covered in massive bruises and one of his arms hanging at an awkward angle, broken and useless. With a final cry of determination Erza launched him off towards the horizon, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as he disappeared into the sky with a small flash of light. Goku stared at the redhead with stars in his eyes.

"That was so cool! Can you teach me how to do that, you threw him all over the place!" Erza smiled at him tiredly, silently questioning how he still had so much energy.

"Sorry, I barely understand how my powers work myself. That's one of the main reasons I'm travelling right now, I'm trying to get to a place called Fairy Tail. I was told that if I can get there that I would meet people who could train me and help me get stronger."

"Really? You get to go and meet a whole bunch of really strong people and train with them? That's awesome!"

"Yes…um" Erza looked over at the remains of Goku's home, guilt weighing heavy on her heart. If he hadn't gotten involved with her, it would still be standing. "I don't suppose, maybe you would like to come with me? Your house got destroyed in the fight, you need somewhere to live now." Goku looked over at the building, then he pulled the Dragon Ball out of his pocket, looking at it cheerfully.

"I still have Grandpa with me so it's no problem, I can rebuild the house really quick. But are those people at Fairy Tail all strong like you?"

"Yes, I believe that they are. So would you like to come along?"

"Yeah, of course! Oh boy, this will be awesome! I can meet a whole bunch of really strong people and get more powerful, just like I told Grandpa! Can I really come with you?" Erza chuckled to herself at the boy's antics, abruptly coughing as her broken rib protested the action. The girl's eyes hardened, clenching her chest as she tried to stop herself from showing any signs that she was still in pain. She failed miserably.

Goku watched his friend with concern, her pain still evident on her face despite her attempts to conceal it. He reached into his pocket once more and pulled out a sole green bean. He held out his hand, offering it to her. Erza looked past him, noticing that he still lacked his tail.

"Do you have another one for yourself? If not you should take it, my injuries will heal with time. You had your tail chopped off, you need it more." Goku shook his head, still holding out the bean.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it will grow back. But when we get to Fairy Tail you said we could train with a bunch of really strong people, you can't train with them if you're all beat up!" Erza glared at the boy, but when it became apparent that he wouldn't back down her gaze softened. She quietly took the bean, sighing in relief as she felt her ribs heal.

The two spent some time preparing, Erza collecting several of the bandits' weapons that she liked the feel of, and Goku catching them some food for the road. With their weapons set, bags of food on their backs, and the Dragon Ball secure in Goku's pocket, the pair set off. They left behind them the ruins of Goku's hut in the forest, setting out towards what they hoped would be their new home.

"This is going to be so cool, I can't wait to fight a whole bunch of really powerful people! Let's get to Fairy Tail quick!"

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And with that, Chapter 3 is done. Any questions? Comments? Unholy desire to burn me alive and dance on my corpse? Then feel free to leave a review, I'm going to try to respond to all of them. Until next time!


	4. Welcome to Fairy Tail

**Uhhhhh… so much college work…. Insert the standard Disclaimer here, my brain is a bit fried at the moment. I hate end of semester work, I had planned on being on Chapter 6 by now.**

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Chapter 4: Welcome to Fairy Tail!

For all of his power, Erza just could not believe just how utterly clueless Goku was. How he had managed to walk off the edge of a cliff was just completely beyond her. Dumfounded, she just watched as he pulled his head out of the hole and climbed back up. He just started walking again, forcing Erza to jog after him as the boy rambled on about how different life was without a tail.

They duo had been on the road for a week now, and Erza was still unsure just what she thought of her new friend. He wasn't a complete idiot, he wouldn't have been able to survive alone for as long as he did otherwise. But his simple, scatterbrained nature left her wondering how he ever got anything done.

One minute he would be walking along besides her, the next he would be up in a tree trying to find fruit. A second after that he would be chasing a squirrel around in an attempt to get it to play with him. The first few times he had done this Erza had smacked him upside the head to try and get him to stop. He thought this meant she was challenging her to a fight.

After leaving several Erza-shaped imprints in the ground, she figured it would be better for her health to just let him be.

Goku was completely oblivious to Erza's confusion. For the first time in his life he was travelling, getting to see more of the world than just the small portion he had grown up in. In just a few short days he had already wrestled a bear, played fetch with a wolf pack, and had gotten to spar with Erza a whole bunch of times. He hadn't had so much fun since his Grandpa had died.

The pair hadn't had any trouble since defeating Ajax. The only thing unusual was that he'd continued to have those strange dreams. However, they were gradually becoming less frequent as he became more acquainted with his new surroundings. As though whatever was giving him these dreams was getting further and further away.

The sun was just starting to set when they first caught sight of a city in the distance. Erza allowed herself a small smile as they looked down from the mountain pass, she could finally see the Guild that Rob told her about so many times before. A great building proudly displaying the symbol Rob had on his back. Goku's face split into a massive grin as he took in the smell of all of the different foods that was drifting upwards with the wind.

As one, the pair broke into a run.

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Fairy Tail, one of the strongest mage guild in all of Fiore. The majestic building was located at the far end of Magnolia, one of the greatest cities in the entire country. For years it was recognized as home of some of the lands most powerful mages, including the Master Makarov and Gildarts. Under Makarov's care the members of the guild all developed incredibly powerful bonds, they were all practically family. These bonds were the only thing keeping Cana at Gray's side as they searched for his clothes.

"I was looking away for two minutes, three tops. How the heck did you lose your clothing that quickly?" The brunette was glaring daggers at the nearly naked ice mage as they searched, annoyed that she had been dragged away from a hot meal before even getting the chance to touch it. Gray was indifferent to her anger, instead he was poking around a stack of barrels, hoping to get a glimpse of his wayward garments.

"Hey! I'm doing you a favor, it's rude to not say anything when someone is talking to you."

"Yeah, whatever. I don't know what happens, one moment my clothes are there, the next they just disappear.

"That's not what happens! You just strip them off and throw them wherever!"

"I do not! They just disappear when I'm not paying attention!"

"I can't believe how big of a moron you are!"

"What? My clothes just disappear all by themselves! How the heck does that make me a moron?" Cana was about to respond, but her carefully constructed rant on just how stupid he was got interrupted when a crumpled piece of fabric caught her eye.

"Aren't those your pants over there?"

"Finally! Good eye." Gray dodged around some of the other guild members and grabbed the pants, quickly pulling them on to his fellow mages' amusement. Once they were on and buttoned, Grey looked down, hoping to find his shirt.

"My shirts not here. We're going to have to keep searching."

"No way, I paid for that food over there and I'm going to eat it before it gets cold."

"What's wrong with cold food?"

"Says the ice mage."

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Ice mages like everything cold, normal people actual enjoy it when their meals don't freeze their insides on the way down. Now you are going to go over there and sit with me while I eat, or you are going to have to buy me another plate!" The two children glared at each other for several moments, their eyes locked, waiting for the other to cave.

Gray broke first.

"Fine, you can eat your stupid food before we go try and find my shirt. But if my pants disappear again while you're eating, you have to help me find those too." Cana just rolled her eyes, smirking at her victory.

"Deal."

The pair sat down at Cana's empty table near the middle of the room, Gray grumbling to himself as he craned his head around, still trying to find his clothes. Cana just munched on her food quietly, trying to work out just how someone could manage to be as dense as the ice mage. He had to be the dumbest person she knew.

It was at that moment that the doors to the guild opened, drawing the attention of the pair out of their inner musing and towards the strange pair that were walking through the entrance.

The first was a girl with startlingly red hair. Her clothing was little more than rags, frayed and looking as though they could fall apart at any moment. She had a small bag slung over one shoulder, and a worn iron blade over the other. She was gazing around the guild, scanning each and every face as she walked forward. Her expression was hard, as though she was preparing herself for a fight.

The boy with her was the complete opposite. It was a wonder how he didn't get whiplash with how quickly he kept turning his neck, trying to take everything in at once. His eyes were wide with wonder, and a giant grin split his face. A small red staff was sheathed on his back, covered by a backpack slightly larger than the girl's.

The two stopped once they reached the center of the guild, the girl positioned slightly ahead of the boy. Cana looked her over and noticed a slight tremor in the redhead's hand. She was nervous about something.

"Hello, we are looking for Master Makarov. Is he here?" The girl's voice lacked any of the nervousness that her body betrayed, she sounded cool, calm and collected. The guild members regarded her for a moment, then Gray slid off of his chair and stepped forwards.

"Why are you looking for the old man?"

"I was sent here by an old friend of his, he told me to talk to the Master and see about joining this Guild."

"You want to join Fairy Tail? If an old friend of the Master sent you, why are you dressed up like you just broke out of an orphanage?"

"That is none of your business and you would do well to not question me about it." Gray saw the look of anger in the girl's eyes and backpedaled. If she really had been sent by a friend of Makarov's, then it would be a good idea not to insult her.

"You said that he sent you here. What about him?" The girl looked over to see her spikey haired companion staring up at the ceiling. After delivering a sharp elbow to his gut, she turned back to Gray.

"I got into some trouble on my way here, and he saved my life. His helping me cost him his home, so I asked him to come along with me." Gray opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by a deeper voice behind him.

"I'm sure that's quite an interesting story, but it seems Gray has forgotten to ask you one of the most important questions. What are your names?" The girl looked over at the short man that had appeared on top of the bar, carefully regarding him before responding.

"I'm Erza Scarlet. My companion over there is named Goku." Said boy had wandered off and began exploring the building during the conversation, but out the sound of his name he turned to give the little man a wave and a big smile.

The old man looked at the pair for a moment before letting out a quiet chuckle.

"I'm Fairy Tail's Guild Master, Makarov. Tell me young one, who is this friend you spoke of that sent you to me?"

"An old man named Rob. He helped me out, and it's because of him that I first discovered how to access my magic." Makarov froze at the name.

"Rob… I haven't heard from him in years. Tell me child, where is he now?"

"He… he passed away far from here. He told me that I needed training in my magic, and that this is the best place for me to go."

Makarov closed his eyes, clearly stricken by the news. "I see…" he sighed. "That sounds like something Rob would say… very well child, I would be more than happy to welcome you both to Fairy Tail!" Erza's guarded expression cracked, and a look of genuine relief and happiness swept over her face. The red head looked around the room to see her friend's expression, then suddenly froze.

The sound of her palm smacking her forehead could be heard throughout the hall.

"Look Erza, I'm a ninja!" The assembled guild members turned to look at the young child, and for a brief moment a complete silence settled over the hall.

Then almost everyone in the building broke out in laughter.

Goku was standing on top of a table in the corner of the room, a black shirt tied around his head like a mask. Cana took all of a second to figure out where the shirt had come from, and the next second had her rolling around on the ground in a fit of giggles.

Gray stared at the young boy, his fists slowly tightening. His face was slowly turning red, and a burning rage filled his eyes.

"That's my shirt you idiot! Give it back right now!" Goku looked over at the boy, pulling the shirt off of his head and grasping it in one hand.

"Well why did you take it off?"

"I didn't! It just disappeared!"

"How did it disappear?"

"I don't know how it disappeared, it just vanished when I wasn't paying attention!"

"So you didn't notice that your shirt was gone?"

"I noticed! That's why I was looking for it!"

"You weren't looking for it, you were sitting at the table."

"I was taking a break!"

"You got tired looking building for your shirt? It's not very big, you must not have a lot of energy if you get tired that quickly." Gray's face now resembled a tomato, and Cana was struggling to remember how to breathe from her position on the floor.

"You… you… I'm gonna tear you apart!" Gray rushed forward his fist cocked back, his rage leaving him blind to anything besides the confused looking boy before him.

His charge was halted by the quick appearance of Erza's fist. Gray went flying sideways and crashed into a pillar, slowly sliding down it and landing on the ground with a thud.

"See, I thought he was weak!" Erza let out a snort, then a chuckle, and then she was just laughing at her friend. Goku looked from the stunned Gray to her and started laughing too.

"That… that was a cheap shot, I wasn't even going for you!" Gray had one hand clutching a large bump on his head and the other pointing an accusing finger at Erza. The happiness instantly left her face and she turned to face Gray with cold eyes.

"I regard any attack on my friends as an attack on myself, and I respond accordingly." Goku hopped over some tables and landed next to Gray, handing him the shirt.

"It's not that big a deal being weak, it just means that you need to train a whole bunch so you'll get really strong. I want to get really strong, just like Grandpa wanted me to. If you want, I'll train with you, we can get stronger together!" Gray's eyes narrowed and he rose to his feet.

"I am not weak, and I'll prove it! Fight me, right now!" Goku saw the hard determination in the boy's eyes, and he had only one response.

"Do I have to take my pants off too?" Startled, Gray looked down and discovered that his pants had once again vanished.

"DAMN IT!"

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Makarov desperately wanted to take young Erza aside in order to question her about his friends passing, but it was clear that now wasn't the time. Once he had managed to get everyone settled down about the outburst, it was decided that they may as well let the fight go through. Gray was absolutely set on battling one of the newcomers, and after Goku's comments on his strength, the conflict was inevitable.

Most adults would argue that letting two kids beat each other up was a terrible idea. Most people weren't Makarov, it was best to just let the brats beat each other up and hope for the best. The aged guild master had been able to delay the battle long enough for everyone to relocate outside. Makarov had lead the group a short ways from the city, coming to a stop at a small meadow. The guild members had assembled into a rough circle, plenty of room to watch the fight and dodge any stray attacks. Cana had taken some initiative and quickly made up a betting pool on the walk over. She was standing next to Gray on one end of the clearing, a pot of money in her hands and a devious look in her eyes. Goku stood across from them, quietly stretching out his muscles and preparing himself for the spar. Makarov smirked to himself; just the boy's movements indicated that he had a certain degree of experience, experience that Gray lacked. Still, Gray was quite the talented ice mage, any fighter could be taken down by a trick that was new to them. He'd just have to wait and see how Goku handled Gray's ice.

Erza was standing next to Makarov, her expression somewhere between annoyance and worry. The tiny man was having difficulty not laughing at her, he just couldn't understand how someone so young could so serious. She was the exact opposite of her traveling companion, who seemed to be as innocent and naïve as a baby. He had absolutely no sense of social grace, any degree of manners, and little knowledge of the world in general. In fact, from what had told him, fighting was the only thing the boy really knew.

Cana finished counting the bets she had collected and stepped out into the center of the circle, snapping Makarov out of his inner musing.

"Alright, all the bets are in, and it's time to start the match! To my left we have Fairy Tail's ice make wizard Gray!" The crowd erupted into cheers and applause, motivating Gray to take a bow. For the moment his clothes remained on his body, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time. Cana had even made an additional betting pool to see who could get the most accurate guess of how long Gray would take to start stripping.

"To my right is one of Fairy Tail's newest recruits… though we haven't actually given them the tattoo yet have we? Anyway, he's Goku!" The applause were slightly more subdued than those for Gray, the loudest coming from Makarov and Erza. Goku smiled slightly, but most of his attention was focused squarely on Gray. He had already assumed a fighting stance, his feet spread and one arm out in front of him at the ready. His other arm was behind his back, hovering inches away from the Power Pole. In contrast, Gray seemed totally relaxed, a confident smirk on his face. His body was loose, he hadn't even bothered to get himself into a ready stance yet.

"Ready… GO!"

Goku quickly dashed forwards, his fist cocked back and ready to strike.

"Ice Make: CANNON!"

Goku was sent flying back as a chunk of ice slammed into his face. He landed on his feet, his hair and clothing glittering with shards of ice. Goku was on his feet again quickly, ready to charge once more. He took a single step and froze. The color slowly drained from his skin, leaving him completely pale.

"COLD! COLD COLD COLD COLD COLD!" Erza face palmed as her friend started hoping around in an attempt to warm up. The boy's arms were wrapped tightly around himself and he was shivering violently. Gray just looked at his opponent incredulously.

"Seriously? It's not that cold, what are you freaking out for?"

"A-a-are you j-j-joking? "I-It's, e-even colder th-than the t-t-time that Grandpa p-p-pushed me i-i-into a g-g-glacier!" Cana was the first to decipher Goku's reply through his shivering, prompting her to ask "Where did your Grandpa find a glacier to push you into?" Goku took a moment before responding, sighing in relief as he managed to return feeling to his numb limbs.

"Well, Grandpa wanted ice one day, so he told me to wait for him at the house while he went north for a few days. When he came back he was carrying a big glacier, it was three times the size of our house! He asked me if I wanted to see it up close, and when I said yes he threw me into it!" Cana opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. She tried to talk again, but was unable to think of an appropriate response. Gray saved her the trouble.

"Hey, are we fighting or not? Come on, it was just getting interesting!" As Gray talked he casually lifted his shirt off his chest, bringing out a series of happy cheers and disappointed muttering throughout the assemble mages. Cana barely managed to contain a triumphant cheer as Grey's pants followed his shirt. Her wallet was getting fat tonight.

"Oh yeah, sorry I got distracted. Here we go!" Goku leapt forwards, catching the annoyed ice mage by surprise. Gray's head snapped back as Goku's fist connected with his face, sending him tumbling backwards. Before Goku could press his advantage Gray rolled to his feet, his magic flaring to life around him.

"Ice Make: CANNON!"

Goku's Power Pole was in his hands in an instant, swinging through the air to connect with the attack like a baseball bat. The chunk of ice went flying off towards the crowd, slamming into a bored looking blond teen and sending him to the ground. A few of the girls snickered as the boy spat out grass from his unplanned trip downwards. Across the circle Makarov sighed

There was no way his grandson would let that go.

Grey snarled in frustration as Goku dodged two more cannon blasts, the smaller boy was just too nimble to hit unless he was caught off guard. Switching tactics, Grey dissolved his cannon and raised his arm into the air.

"Ice Make: SWORD!" An icy blade sprang into existence, a faint mist radiating off its entire length.

"Let's see how well you fight if that stupid stick of your's get chopped to bits!" The two boys charged in, throwing all of their power into their attacks. The Power Pole blocked the momentum of the blade, then swung upward, knocking the icy sword sideways. Grey quickly brought it back up, deflecting a jab that would have caught his gut and swung the sword out towards Goku's chest. The spikey haired boy deflected the blow, and then swung downwards straight towards the blade's hilt. Grey's eyes widened in shock as the sword shattered, sending shards of ice flying in every direction. He quickly threw out his hand, sending a burst of ice to spread out along the Power Pole's length. Goku quickly released his weapon and jumped upwards, spinning over Grey's head and landing back to back with him. Simultaneously they swung around to face each other, fists clenched and determination in their eyes.

As their fists collided together, Goku let out a cry of "ROCK". He dodged under Grey's next punch and lunged jabbed his hand towards the Ice Mage's face with two fingers extended. "SCISSORS!" Grey let out a cry of pain as Goku's fingers jabbed into his eyes, sending him stumbling backwards. The Ice Mage desperately rubbed at his eyes, trying to restore his vision. Goku stiffened his hand, launched a powerful palm strike straight for Grey's forehead.

"PAPER!" Grey's blurry eyes were just able to see the outline of Goku's hand before the blow struck. Then everything went dark.

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Gray woke up hours later on a bed in Fairy Tail's medical room. He slowly slid off the bed and eased his way to the floor. His head was throbbing from Goku's last attack, and his sense of balance was still shaky. He carefully made his way out towards the main room and saw a crowd surrounding the bar. Standing on top were Goku, Erza, and Makarov. Gray watched as Makarov presented the pair with the Fairy Tail symbol, placing it on Erza's left upper arm and Goku's right shoulder. There was a round of applause from the crowd, and both kids smiled towards the group. It was several minutes before Goku noticed Gray standing across the room, and the second he saw the Ice Mage the young boy's face lit up in a massive grin. He leapt straight over the crowd and dashed over to Gray's side.

"That was such a good fight! Your powers are really funny though, Grandpa never showed me anything like them. You are so much stronger than I thought, we have to spar more later!" Grey stared at Goku for a moment, thinking briefly that he should really dislike the kid for beating him. But Goku's happy attitude was contagious, and soon Gray found himself grinning right back at him.

"Alright we can fight again, but you better be ready because next time you're the one who is going to end up in the hospital!" Goku laughed and turned back towards the group, looking for either Erza or food, whichever he could find first. Before he get far, Gray reached out and tapped his shoulder. Goku looked back, and saw his new friend looking somewhat hesitant.

"Hey Goku…?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen my clothes?"

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! GOKU AND ERZA HAVE SETTLED IN WITH THEIR GUILDMATES AND NEW FAMILY, BUT NEW PROBLEMS ARE ON THE HORIZON. WITH THE ARRIVAL OF A POWERFUL TRIO OF NEW MAGES, CAN ERZA STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE? CAN GOKU SURVIVE THE JOB SET BEFORE THEM? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: A FIERCE RIVALRY!

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AN: Alright, three quick things before I wrap this up. First off, I've got finals coming up over the next three weeks, so I'm probably not going to be getting any writing done at all during that time. Sorry about the delay in advance, but I really want to keep my scholarship and that means I need to get good grades on all of them.

Second, can someone please remind me when the Shadowgear team joined the guild? Did they come in before or after Natsu? I only have 2 or 3 more chapters planned with the kids before I get into the first arc of the main story, and for the life of me I can't remember who came first. If nobody tells me, I will have to use my author powers to alter the timeline of a fictional reality, and I'm not ready for that level of responsibility.

Lastly, and you can skip this one if you want, I have a poll up on my profile for my other story. I know most of you don't read it, but its currently in a five way tie for first, and I'm at a loss as what to do. I would appreciate it if a few of you guys could just pop over there for a minute or two and just pick the options that look the coolest. Don't even worry about context or anything, just pick the ones that are the most interesting to you. Thanks a bunch guys. See you next time!


	5. A Fierce Rivalry!

Jeez this story is getting popular fast, I love it. I'm glad everyone is enjoying things so far. I know a couple people want me to move on to the Lullaby arc and stop with the kid stuff, and I promise we will get to that soon, but I have a bit more story I want to write with the younger group. Bear with me, a time skip is imminent.

Also, to the mystery guest that left all of those reviews for me. Dude, make an account so I can respond to you. You brought up several good points, but I can't really say anything about them here without giving everyone spoilers.

Next, none of you guys called me one my typo for the chapter title last time? Really? I had it "Welcome to Fiary Tail." For a solid month. I'm actually kind of grateful that nobody rubbed that in my face. I'd blame my beta, but I came up with the title after he already reviewed it… whoops.

Also I'm introducing a few characters that might not actually be canonically at the guild at this point in the time line, but there is no mention of when they actually arrived in canon. So yeah

Anyway, let's get on with it.

Disclaimer, I'm too poor to own anything here.

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**Chapter 5: A Fierce Rivalry! **

Goku grit his teeth, struggling with all his might as he stared down his latest foe.

"A...is… for…ap…appllllleee." Goku read off the small children's book that was challenging him with its colorful pictures and difficult words.

His struggle had begun when Erza had learned that he had absolutely no ability to read. Erza had declared that this was a critical skill for any mage and that he would learn to do so. The young knight had dragged him to the guild library to try and teach him herself.

This plan had not worked; it turned out Erza did not possess much skill in reading herself, the Tower of Heaven being largely ineffective at providing children with an education. What she had learned prior to being captured had begun to fade away, and she was left struggling with her incomplete recollection.

They had almost gotten through the alphabet before Goku decided that he was bored, and that the food the guild was serving looked much more entertaining. The subsequent argument had drawn the attention of the only other person in the library. A short, blue-haired girl, looking about a year or two younger than them had come over and introduced herself as Levy McGarden. Then she asked if they needed help.

"I am trying to teach this scatterbrained idiot how to read."

"Hey don't blame me, reading and words are boring."

"I already told you that being able to read is a critical skill."

"Why? I can't punch people with words."

"Actually Goku." Levy had interjected, "Words can actually be quite powerful."

"…Powerful?" that had gotten his attention.

"Yes. Using the power in words is actually the foundation of my magic."

"So you actually punch people with words?"

"Um… not really, here let me show you." The girl smiled and waved her hands in the air a word appeared in the air which then shifted into a ball of light. Illuminating the shelves around them with a soft glow.

"My magic is all about language and words. The word I wrote was the word for light, so that's the form my magic took. Now watch what happens when I combine it with the word for dance." She waved her hand again another word appear and was sucked into the glowing ball. Which began to zoom around the room, bouncing off of books and shimmying up the side of bookcases. "By understanding words, and what they mean I can create almost any kind of effect I want."

"Cool! So you can make anything you want, even food?"

"Well, yes I can, but the magically created food is never as tasty or as filling as real food, it just tends to be empty calories. But, if you learn how to read then you can read menus at restaurants. It will be easier for you to get food that way."

"So I can get more food if I learn how to read. Well, that does sound good, but it's still a lot of work.

"Well, how about we play a game with it? I can use my magic to make some of the things you are reading, help make things interesting."

"That sounds really cool! Could you make a dinosaurs like the ones back by my home, they are really fun to play with, and they taste really good!"

"Dinosaurs?" Levy blinked. "Where did you say you come from?"

"The mountain."

"…Anyway, I can't really make big things like that. What I can make is limited to how much energy I have. I'm not very strong, so I can't really make big objects." She waved her hands to demonstrate. A word formed in the air before forming into a bunny-sized T Rex that gave a squeaky roar and started chasing the ball of light around the table.

"That sounds fun! Why don't we make it a trade? You teach me how to read, and I help you train and get stronger!"

"Really? That sounds great." they shook hands to seal the deal. "So how far have you gotten?"

"We had just gotten the letter w" said Erza.

"Why is it called double-u, when it looks like two v's? Shouldn't it be called double-v?"

"Be quiet Goku."

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Erza smiled as Goku slowly continued to work through new words. When he finally was able to piece together "apple" Levy magically created a few of the red fruits, and the trio enjoyed enjoyed a brief snack break. They ate in silence while watching the antics of Levy's tiny T-Rex. The mini dinosaur had finally caught the ball of light and eaten it, only for the magic of the light to combine with it, causing the lizard to start glowing and moonwalking across the table

When the food was finished, Erza excused herself, leaving the two to their reading lesson she made her way towards the main doors. The red haired girl left the guild and began strolling down the street. As she walked, the smile began to fade from her face. She kept walking for several minutes, finally stopping when she reached the river bank right on the edge of the town. She slowly sat down, curling up into herself, gazing down into the running water.

When she had been on the road, she had bottled everything up, first focusing on survival, then helping her friend. When she was in the guild she just hid how she felt, she didn't want to give anyone any reason to ask about her past. Goku was naïve enough not to question the condition he found her in, and probably didn't even consider it important enough to bother mentioning to anyone else.

But every once in a while, she just needed to find time to be alone. Time to stop holding back, and just let everything go.

Her eyes watered as she thought back to the events at the tower, back to Jellal's betrayal, and the look on the faces of her friends as she was forced to leave them behind to save their lives. Those looks stayed with her, keeping her up at night and haunting her during the day. For the third time since joining the guild months ago, Erza cried.

It was another ten minutes before she collected herself, forcing herself to her feet once more. The mask of calm returned, and the young girl began making her way back towards the guild. As much as it hurt, and as much as she hated herself for not getting the rest of the slave workers out of the tower, she would not allow it to affect her new life. She would mourn her friends, but she would not let her grief control her. There was little she could do to help them. She had new friends now, new people to care about. A new home. No matter what, she would not allow herself to fail twice. She just couldn't.

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"Ice Make: HAMMER!" Gray launched a sledgehammer of ice at the white haired girl, letting out a grunt of anger as she ducked under the blow. The grunt turned into a cry of pain when she dashed forward and landed a hard kick to the gut. He doubled over from the blow, but he was quick to bring his hands back up towards his smirking opponent.

"Ice Make: CANN-urk!" Before he could blink the girl closed the distance, landing a massive punch across his jaw that sent him sprawling on the ground. He slowly tried to rise to his feet, but his arms gave out when she slammed her foot into his back.

"Ha, that was pathetic. It's a good thing we came to this guild when we did, otherwise who knows just how weak it would be. What do you think Elfman? Lisanna? Are we really sure we want to join up with such a weak group?" The girl turned to face two more white haired kids, both looking down meekly. Cana stood just besides them, shocked at how easily Gray had been defeated. Her hands slowly reached towards her pack of cards, hoping to be able to help her friend.

"Unless you want to join your buddy on the ground, I really wouldn't do that." Cana's eyes widened with fear as the girl turned to glare at her, shivering under the killing intent. Lisanna stepped forward, placing herself between the scared girl and her sister's wrath.

"Come on Mirajane, big sis, we want to join up with them, not beat the entire guild into submission."

"But I bet it will be a lot easier for us once everyone knows that we are the top dogs. But speaking of joining up, where do you suppose the guild master is hanging out? I want to get my mark, I already know just where I want to put it." Below her, Gray was slowly trying to push himself up, his body shaking from the exertion. Mirajane felt the movement below her and ground in her heel.

"Just give it up down there, it's obvious that you're outmatched. Maybe if you ask real nice I'll let you up."

"I think you should let him up right now."

The three white haired kids turned to see Goku and Levy exiting the library. Levy backed away, anxiously looking at the growing confrontation, but Goku's face was completely impassive. His eyes were locked with Mirajane's completely unflinching as he stared her down. The girl matched his gaze evenly, then barked out a laugh.

"Oh, another weakling crawling out of the woodworks? Come on short stuff, I've already beaten your buddy, what makes you think you'll do any better?" To her surprise, Gray was the one to answer with a laugh of his own.

"He'll do better, he beat me too. He's strong enough to beat you too." Mira looked over the spiky haired boy with a critical eye, observing his build, his stance, his posture, and the challenge that seemed to blaze in his eyes.

"Yeah I don't buy it. He looks like a complete wimp, and that look on his face makes him look like a complete moron. Bet that's why you were hanging out with that little nerdy girl hanging out behind you, taking some remedial lessons?"

"I was learning how to read."

"Learning how to…? Oh geez you really are a complete idiot aren't you? This won't even be a fight, it's a mercy beating. Maybe if I smack you around hard enough I'll be able to knock something loose in your head."

"You would do well to stop harming and insulting my friends, before I am forced to make you stop myself." Mirajane rolled her eyes as she tilted her head to face the entrance of the guild.

"You guys are just crawling out of the woodworks now huh? And a ginger this time, fun! I have to ask though, what's with the armor. Are you that desperate to hide your body from everyone, you so ugly that you don't want to give anyone a good look?"

"As opposed to you dressing up wearing your little sister's shirt? In case you are too dim to figure it out on your own, that shirt doesn't fit you."

"Hey! Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"

"My name is Erza Scarlet, and I will not stand for you doing anything to my friends." Mirajane looked down at Gray, then with a sneer on her face she released him, marching over to get right up in Erza's face.

"Got pretty pathetic friends, for them to have to rely someone like you to stand up for them. Between the wimpy snowman and your brain dead boyfriend, a wannabe amazon must get the leadership pretty easy." She turned to look over at Goku, who had dashed over to help Gray to his feet.

"What do you think dumbass, why are you following around the tin can? Is it just because you are too dumb to know any better? Or maybe you are hoping for some future development with her, hmm?" Goku ignored her for a moment, handing Grey off to Cana to make sure that he was taken care of. Then he turned to face her, his expression hard.

"I may not be very smart, I don't even understand everything you just said. But I don't like people who mock my friends. You may be stronger than everyone else in the guild, you may not be, but everyone here is my friend. If you are joining the guild, then you three are going to be our friends too, so you shouldn't act like this. Why don't you just calm down, and we can go find Master Makarov so you guys can join?"

"Are you kidding me? Why should I be friends with you guys, just like that? You want to be friends, you have to earn it. Right now all I see is a bunch of losers who aren't even worth it." Goku opened his mouth to reply, but before he had a chance to say anything, Erza moved. Goku had extended an olive branch, and this little witch had thrown it right back in his face, that was unacceptable. With a growl she grabbed Mirajane's shoulders, spinning her around so they were face to face.

"Enough! I will not allow you to speak like this any longer!"

"If you want me to stop so bad, make me!"

"If you insist." Erza's armored fist slammed Mirajane's jaw, sending her tumbling to the ground with a resounding clang. The white haired mage quickly rolled to her feet, charging forwards and decking Erza with equal force. Mira chased after Erza as she tumbled backwards, kicking out at the red head. Erza brought up a gauntlet covered arm to block the blow, smirking at Mirajane's curses when her toes smashed up against the unyielding metal.

The enraged girl was quick to retaliate, knocking the swordswoman's legs out from under her and then falling on top of her, pinning her to the ground. Before Erza could shake her off, Mira began pounding on her, forcing the red head to throw her arms up in a desperate attempt to protect her head.

"Power Pole, Extend!" Mira let out a surprised yelp as the magical red staff slammed into her side, knocking her off of Erza and slamming her into the wall. Erza was quick to return to her feet, turning to glare at Goku.

"Do not interfere!"

"But you were in trouble, I was helping out."

"I do not want help! This is my fight, let me do this on my own!" Mirajane rose to her feet, glaring angrily at the martial artist.

"You heard her, this is a one on one. Butt out! Go play with your loser friends or something, this is none of your business!" Goku looked between the two girls and nodded, backing out of the way. Erza gave a nod of appreciation, grabbed a nearby chair, and spun around to smash it over Mirajane's head. The girl crashed to the ground with a groan, clutching the growing lump on the top of her skull.

"WHAT ARE YOU MORONS DOING TO MY GUILD HALL?" Everyone froze, one by one slowly turning up towards to see Master Makarov glaring down at them from the second floor balcony. Erza looked around guiltily, she and Mirajane had broken many tables and chairs smashing each other around, and some of the older guild members had positioned themselves off to the corners of the building, watching the spectacle. Not to mention she was still standing over the fallen Mirajane with a chair held over her head. There would be no ducking responsibility here.

"My apologies Master, my were having a… discussion and things got out of hand." Makarov snorted, looking between Erza and Mirajane then at the chair in Erza's hands. The young knight followed his gaze, and then hastily put the chair down.

"That much is obvious. However, my question is why are you fighting someone who is visiting this guild?" Erza hesitated for a moment, and Mirajane took the opportunity to speak up.

"We aren't just visiting, we are trying to join up. I wanted to see how powerful some of the guild members were, see how you guys stack up."

"Oh-ho, a challenge then? Tell me, what did you think?" Mira looked around the guild, taking in the damages and the people gathered around her. A smirk graced her face as she looked back up towards the small man.

"Well, they all look like idiots, but at least they like to fight, one or two of them can even pack a punch. I think I can speak for my siblings when I saw that this is a place we can call home. I speak for myself though when I saw that I'm going to enjoy kicking Ms. Tin Can around all the time." Makarov quickly raised his hand, cutting off Erza before she could retort.

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time for that later, though I hope that while you are beating each other senseless, you at least attempt to develop some sort of friendship. Now what do you say we make it official, and give all three of you the mark of Fairy Tail?"

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If there was a single thing the members of Fairy Tail loved, it was throwing wild crazy parties. The celebration of the three new members into the guild lasted for the rest of the day and far into the night, with most of the members passing out in the building long before they had the chance to drag themselves home. It wasn't until late into the morning that everyone was up and functional again, and thus it wasn't until the early afternoon that Makarov summoned the younger guild members to meet with him. Goku, Erza, Gray, Cana, Levy, and the Strauss siblings gathered together around the old man as he stood atop the bar.

"So, I hope everyone enjoyed the party last night. Especially since, thanks to certain members here, our food stores are almost completely gone." Makarov gazed around the group, letting out a small snicker at the sheepish cough that followed.

"Anyways, since you are all here I've decided to find you guys a little team building exercise. There have been a reports of an unknown witch terrorizing a small territory down south known as Cameolot. Supposedly this witch has gathered a group of monsters and is terrorizing the town. We've been requested to send a group of 5 mages down there to take care of the situation. I've arranged things so that you will be picked up at the train station in town and driven out to the general area of the witch, that way you won't have to deal with the local ruler.

"Why do you not want us to deal with the local ruler?" asked Erza, eyebrow raised. Normally when mages went to deal with a threat, the local leader would be the one they would contact.

Makarov looked at them for a moment, and then made a face. It wasn't just a scowl, or frown. It was a grimace of utter disgust that perfectly showed his distaste for the subject at hand.

"Trust me kiddos." He replied, distaste dripping from his tone, "you do not want to have to work with the local ruler. In the past I've sent people down to spend a day with him as my absolute worst form of punishment. This punishment has grown so hated over the years, everyone in the guild simply refers to it as "THAT." Until such a time comes around that I actually need to resort to it, you won't have any interaction with him at all."

The looks on all of the children varied in different levels of curiosity of fear on what exactly "THAT" was. Looking around, Erza was the one to bring up the next point of discussion.

"Excuse me Master, you said that only five of us would be going? You have more of us here than you need. If we really only need five, then there is no real reason for our newer members to come along." Mirajane threw her a look of disgust before throwing a retort.

"I don't see any real reason that YOU need to come along. The three of us already have a real powerful team on our own, I bet that we wouldn't even NEED five members to get the job done. If the other two are really necessary, then we'll take along the two boys. The stripper can keep our drinks cool, and I bet dumbo makes for some good entertainment."

Makarov looked down and moaned as the two strong headed girls clashed once again. He expanded his hands to grab onto both girls, slamming them apart and holding them down.

"Well one thing is for sure, BOTH of you are going on this mission. Working together, fighting to protect yourselves and those who fight besides you, with any luck you will develop a strong bond." The pair's cries of protest were quickly silenced as the Master tightened his grasp, forcing the air from their lungs.

"No arguments, I both of you show true potential to become truly powerful as you mature, and I won't have you doing so as enemies. Now then, all we must do now is determine who will be accompanying you. Cana, I think you would be useful on this mission, we could use someone level headed enough to potentially keep these two from killing each other." Cana squired in her seat, looking down nervously.

"Actually master, I was hoping to remain at the guild for the next few days. I heard that Gildarts is supposed to be back soon, and I was hoping to be able to see him."

"That is fine child, I thought that might be your answer. That's why I asked Levy to come here. Levy, would you be willing to fill in for Cana as the group mediator?"

"I would Master, but what about Goku? Erza and I were both working on helping him learn to read and write, it wouldn't be very productive to leave and just stop for now. Who knows how long we could be gone, he might end up forgetting everything before we are back!"

"Very well then, Goku may go as well." His eyes shifted to look at the boy, now sporting a wide grin at the opportunity to go on another adventure.

"I expect you to continue to study hard while you are on the road boy, is that understood?"

"Sure thing, this will be great!" Mirajane's look grew darker as the conversation continued, until she finally burst out.

"What about Lisanna and Elfman?! If we can only take five; that means that one of them can't come with us!" Makarov looked over the two younger members of the trio, focusing mostly on Lisanna.

"I'm sorry about this, but I'm not planning on letting Lisanna go on any missions anytime soon. She is a bit younger than the children I normally take in, and while I'm sure you are all experience, I do not want any accidents to take place. Elfman, you may go if you want, but your sister stays here."

"I don't like that, I know Mira can take care of herself, but I don't want to leave Lisanna by herself. If she isn't going, then I won't be either." Mirajane opened her mouth to retort but Elfman was quick to cut her off.

"You're the strongest of us Mira, you can do things we can't. One day I want to be strong enough that I can always protect you both, but for now I can only protect Lisanna. When we have proven ourselves we will all go together again, but for now we all need to develop our abilities so that we can always have each other's backs!" Mira gave a soft smile at her brother, giving him a short but warm hug.

"Alright bro, you hold down the fort for me, make sure our little sis is safe. I'll take care of this big bad witch, and I'll bring you guys both an awesome story and a souvenir from the trip!" Makarov nodded at the pair before turning to face Gray.

"That leaves you as the last member of this adventure. I trust that you have no urgent matter to take care of outside of finding your shirt?" Gray looked down and gritted his teeth to contain a string of curses. He quickly grabbed Cana from her chair and dashed off. Makarov gave a hearty chuckle as the two began crawling around searching under tables.

"Alright then everyone, the plan is set, and you leave at noon tomorrow. Until then rest up and back your bags, you are all in for quite the trip!"

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE NEWLY ASSEMBLED TEAM IS OFF, AND SO BEGINS THEIR NEXT ADVENTURE! BUT WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS WITCH TERRORIZING CAMEOLOT, AND CAN THE YOUNG MAGES DEFEAT HER MONSTERS? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: THE FORTUNTELLER!

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I think I dropped enough hints for you guys to figure out who will be showing up next chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter just wasn't agreeing with me. I originally had a completely different first mission planned out, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to make it work.


	6. The Fortuneteller

A quick check. Am I still a poor college student? Yes. Am I still worrying about how to make ends meet? Yes. Do I own anything in this story? Still no. Disclaimer, not anyone in their right mind would think I would or could claim the rights to any of this. Seriously people, you would have to pay your lawyer more money than you could sue out of me.

I would like to thank my beta for help with Cameolot, the majority of the ideas I ended up using there were his.

CAMEO-LOT people. Not Camelot, CAMEOLOT.

**Chapter 6: The Fortuneteller!**

Erza sighed; this train ride was not shaping up to be enjoyable.

The team had gathered at the station, only to find the train had been running about an hour late. It had been a nightmare keeping the rest of the group out of trouble for a whole 60 minutes.

The train station had clear rules on public nudity, so she had to keep a constant eye on Gray in case he stripped. Goku was his usual ball of energy, bouncing around the station and causing trouble. He was very impressed by the trains, after the first one had gone by he had immediately got on the tracks to see if he could stop the next one from passing.

Erza wasn't sure what worried her more, Goku getting run over by a train, or that he would successfully stop one and destroy it in the process. Master Makarov was already annoyed about the time Goku had destroyed the guild kitchen; he made Goku take a whole bunch of jobs until he could pay for a new one. She could only imagine what would happen if he was forced to try and pay off an entire train.

But worst of all: Mirajane.

The girl was an absolute horror to be around. She was rude, crude, and arrogant, trying to start a fight with everyone around her. Her attitude had disturbed many civilians, and it was all the redhead could do to stop herself from starting a fight right there in the train station.

Levy was the only reason Erza hadn't already started breaking things. She was a quiet girl with a helpful attitude. After the third time Grey had attempted to strip, Levy had found a solution. The little word mage had written the word "Sticky" on all of Gray's garments, making it so that the ice mage couldn't remove his cloths without literally tearing them off of his body.

The spell also stuck Gray to a station bench when he sat down, but as far as Erza was concerned that just kept him out of trouble.

This strategy hadn't worked on keeping Goku out of trouble; he just muscled through the spell and started using it to walk up the walls and across the ceiling. But Levy had a solution for that as well, she had pulled out a book on exotic cuisine and distracted the hyperactive fighter by showing him some of the fancy meals that could be found in Cameolot. Goku was too busy drooling over the pictures to cause more trouble.

Which just left Mirajane. Levy was too terrified of the white haired girl to try to do anything about her. But Erza could keep the demon girl out of trouble as long as she didn't have to babysit any other idiots at the same time.

Finally, the train had arrived.

Once it started moving, Goku had immediately fallen asleep, his body slouching until he fell off his chair onto the floor. Grey was stuck to his seat, arms crossed and sulking but she saw no problem with that as long as he was quiet about it. Mirajane had taken the window seat and was staring out the window with a bored expression on her face and Levy was quietly reading a book.

Erza herself closed her eyes and considered the challenge ahead. This was the first time she had lead a mission with such a big team. Well, Makarov hadn't said she was in charge, but she just assumed he forgot to say so.

There was no way she was going to let this mission be a failure.

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Erza opened her eyes as the trains whistle sounded. She stood up, stretching her arms as the train began to slow down. Levy's spell on Gray had faded during the journey, and he, along with the rest of the group, joined her in preparing to depart. The only one who hadn't gotten up was Goku. The monkey boy was still passed out on the floor, a puddle of drool spreading out from his face.

"Goku wake up already, we're here." She prodded him with her foot, but he just rolled over muttering something about a punch bowl.

Erza's eyes narrowed.

Goku's eyes snapped open to the sensation of somebody stomping on his face, the images of his dreams still playing through his mind. A white creature rampaging throughout a city, a flash of pink slaughtering an entire world to the sound of laughter, and that same beam of blue light. The young boy blinked, the images fading into the sight of Erza's boot, raised over his face.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" He yelled as he shot to his feet.

Levy was standing next to him, smiling sympathetically. Erza and Mirajane on either side of her. Gray was to his left, shouldering his bag as he prepared to depart the train. The entire group was collecting their belongings, making sure they have everything they would need for the rest of their journey going after the witch.

"Good. Come Goku, you slept right through the train whistle. Grab your stuff, if we don't get off the train fast enough then we are going to end up stuck here until the next stop." Goku nodded, quickly strapping his Power Pole onto his back and checking his pocket to confirm that the small orange dragon ball was still inside. The mages departed the train together, heading out of the station just outside of the city.

A giant sign saying "WELCOME TO CAMEOLOT" was placed directly before them, the T in the form of a giant sword. Far off in the distance the kids could see a giant stone castle, with massive decorative banners and signs all over the walls. Erza looked over the building with a critical eye.

"It looks quite impressive, but it doesn't look very practical, give me three trebuchets and I could level that castle in a day. Whoever built it clearly cared more about its looks. Do you suppose that has something to do with why Master didn't want us to meet the ruler here?" Mirajane looked at the building herself, then turned towards one of the guards positioned around the train station.

"Hey you, what's up with the guy who owns that palace?" The guard's face looked back at her blankly, before taking on a look of disgust, it was remarkably similar to the one Makarov had made the day before. Looking around, Erza noticed that several other people who had been within earshot of the question had also taken on the same look. They quickly moved away from the group.

"It's…he's… I'm afraid you'd have to talk to him yourself. If you excuse me, I'm working." The man quickly retreated, and the group looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't like they had to worry about dealing with him anytime soon.

"So, where are we going now?" Gray asked.

"The master secured us transportation us to the village, said an old friend of his would give us a ride." Erza replied.

"How are we supposed to find this friend?"

"The masters instructions were quite clear, he said that the we are looking for a giant blue man with pointy shoes."

"That sounds pretty easy to find."

"Yes, additionally the master gave me a map to follow. This way."

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"This place is weird." Gray deadpanned.

The rest nodded in agreement, the city was like some sort of weirdo convention. The strangeness started when a red and gold robot crash-landed in front of them. It had gotten back to his feet grumbling.

"Jarvis, remind me to punch Thor for telling me that this place would be fun."

"I would advise against hitting him sir, you would break your arm."

The robot grumbled and shot blue light out of its legs as it took off back into the sky. Everyone had been so distracted by the robot that Erza was taken by surprise when the map was snatched out of her hand. She had whirled around to see a raccoon in a blue outfit hurrying away.

"Thief" she roared, chasing after the swindling rodent. The others had hurried to keep up as the thief ran into a side alley, only for the raccoon to use a hooked golden cane to swing himself up onto a roof. He waved cheerfully back at them.

"Bye-bye ladies" Goku wiped out his power pole and shot himself onto the roof as the raccoon disappeared from sight. After a minute, Goku came back.

"Sorry guys, the raccoon guy got away."

"Now what are we supposed to do?" asked Gray.

"I think we should get something to eat."

"Goku, you had that grumpy burger from that yellow talking sponge not five minutes ago."

"So? I'm hungry again."

"You're always hungry, and now we're lost." Erza growled, hitting Goku over the head.

"Lost? Well that's no good." the group looked around and saw a cat lounging on a fire escape. It was a weird cat, fat with purple stripes running down its entire body. It turned its head and grinned up on them, an eerily human grin that stretched all the way across its face. "Somehow you've strayed and lost your way, would you like some help today?"

The group looked at each other, then shrugged. "We are looking for a blue man with pointy shoes."

"Oh I know him. I think, a happy freak." The cat grinned and pointed his tail to their left. "Follow the path till you find the house that looks like a lamp. That's were you will find the freak you seek."

"Why do you call him a freak?" Levy asked.

"Oh, we're all freaks here. A freak here, a freak there. Why I can't even look in the mirror without getting freaked. But I digress, good luck with seeking your freak." The cat faded from view until only his sparkling grin remained floating in midair, then winked out of sight.

They followed the path the cat had pointed for about twenty minutes until they came upon a house that looked exactly like a giant lamp. Erza stalked forward and knocked on the door. Which opened a crack.

"Yes?" a voice asked. "I'm afraid I'm not interested in any cookies, it will go right to my thighs."

"We were sent by Master Makarov." Erza said through gritted teeth, she was starting to get sick of this place.

"Maky sent you? Well why didn't you say so!" the door flew open and the voice was revealed. He was a blue man with poofy pants and shoes that had pointed tips curling inward. He grinned when he saw them. "Come on in. you must be looking for transportation, correct?"

"Yes. How are you going to help?" Erza replied as the group moved into the house. It was full of a bunch of weird knickknacks that looked like they came from all over the world. The floor was covered in a plush carpet.

"With style!" The man pointed to the ceiling, which vanished. Suddenly they felt the carpet lift them off the ground and flew up above the buildings. There was a poof of smoke and suddenly the man was wearing a flight attendants uniform. "Hello people, you can call me Genie. Thank you for flying with us today, and if you would like to get off in the case of emergency, please note that exits are located on all sides. Parachutes are not provided, and there will be no in flight movies, because my projector is broken. Now let's go!"

With a sudden jolt, the carpet started zipping through the sky as the mages desperately tried to hold on.

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"So you met the master in a pie eating contest?" Genie nodded, smiling at their skeptical looks

"Yep, Maky and I go way back. I tell ya, he's never had a friend like me. Oop well looky here, we've arrived." Genie exclaimed as the carpet finally slowed down. "See those rocks? Just go north past them and you'll be in the area that witch has been attacking in no time. You guys want me to stick around to give you a ride back?"

"We have already taken up enough of your time, we shouldn't impose on you anymore. Don't worry about us, we will find our own way back."

"Well… alright. Good luck to all of you, don't be a stranger." The djinn wrapped the carpet around his neck like a cape. "Genie away!" he yelled as he soared off into the distance. Once he had faded from sight they glanced around at each other, picked up their supplies and began walking.

Mirajane glanced around at the group and couldn't shake the slight feeling of isolation, Levy was trying to make up a few lessons to pass the time with Goku and Gray was having a quiet conversation with Erza. She was walking between the two groups, near them but not truly with them. Normally she traveled with her siblings, so she always had someone to talk to if she wanted, but they weren't here right now.

"So… uh, why did all of you people decide to join up with Fairy Tail?" she asked awkwardly. Erza glanced over suspiciously, but Goku was quick to give an enthusiastic response.

"I want to become really strong like my Grandpa! He taught me a whole lot about fighting and fishing and cooking and how to live out in the woods, and I want to become the best fighter I can be, just like he wanted!" Mirajane looked out of Goku out of the corner of her eye, a slight smile appearing on her face.

"So you want to be better at beating people up? Heh, I can support that. What about the rest of you?" Levy looked over with a bright smile.

"Well, I decided to join up so I could learn how to control my abilities. I was just writing in a journal one day, and the next thing I knew the words started coming of the pages. I was writing about the ocean, and accidently flooded the house with seawater. Now I have better control so I can keep reading and writing. I have tons of fun reading all of the cool magic books they keep in the guild!"

"Your entire goal for being a mage and joining a guild is just to become a better writer? Okay, that answer was so boing I nearly fell asleep. What about you two?" Erza and Gray looked uncomfortably at one another, both hoping the other would take the initiative. After a few seconds Gray sighed, bowing his head down as he continued walking.

"I'm keeping a promise to an old friend. She asked me to go find myself a guild where I could make friends and meet other powerful people." Mirajane looked at Gray, waiting for him to continue, but the ice mage stayed silent.

"Don't really want to talk about it huh? I'm just going to assume you were the victim of some awful tragedy and just move on then. What about you Red? You could have just joined up with the army with that fancy little tin can of yours, why join a guild?"

"Someone important to me wanted me to join."

Another long pause.

"Alright then, two people with tragic backgrounds they don't want to share, a bookworm, and a happy go lucky idiot. Well, maybe you can make some decent distractions while I beat up the witch.

A sudden cackling filled the air, a maniacal laugh that brought the group to a sudden halt, huddling together at the ready.

"Tell me my dear, who said you were even facing a witch at all?"

A sudden wave of light caught the entire group off guard, quickly overtaking them and covering their bodies. When the light faded their surroundings had completely changed. Before there had been nothing but sand and rocks, now they stood before a massive arena, positioned right alongside a large pond. Beyond that was some sort of temple, and hovering directly above the stadium was what could only be their target. A small woman, barely two feet tall sat on top of a floating crystal ball, only slightly smaller than herself. Her face was covered in a mass of great, saggy wrinkles, and her teeth were yellowed with age.

"Hehehe… so kiddos, what are you doing up in my neck of the woods? Are you my next set of challengers?"

"We are mages of Fairy Tail, sent here to stop you and your monsters from terrorizing the people of Cameolot." The old woman smiled at Erza, showing gaps in her grin where teeth had rotted out.

"Never heard of Fairy Tail, but you must be worth some entertainment if you were sent here to face me. I am Fortuneteller Baba, and I run things around here. I don't know about terrorizing anyone though, a few people came here, ended up in my tournament in an attempt at winning the prize, and a few people ended up dead. It's nothing worth complaining about, if those people were actually any good then they wouldn't have lost their fights now would they?" Goku's ears perked up as Baba was talking, a look of excitement filling his eyes.

"Tournament? Fights?"

"Yes, I hold fighting tournaments here. I have a collection of some of the most diverse fighters on the planet gathered here with me, and I challenge travelers to face the gauntlet and receive a prize. Though, ever since I came here, I've found that I've gotten a lot more business than usual. Its put me in such a good mood, I even sent my brother back home without spending some time tormenting him first! Though I did take a few choice goodies from him…"

"Can we enter the tournament?"

"Wait, no we don't want to-"

"Of course you can! You said you had some sort of job to get rid of me right? You beat my fighters, I go home. You lose, I get to bring your souls into the next world. How's that for a deal?"

"I don't think-

"DEAL!"

WHAM! Erza pinched the bridge of her nose as Goku tried to pull his head out of the ground. In the span of a few seconds of idiocy they had gone from facing a single old woman to being forced into a fight to the death with a bunch of monsters. She quickly surveyed the rest of the group, trying to determine their options. Levy's face was set, but her body was trembling. She wasn't experienced in having to fight for her life, and her nerves might be a problem. Grey's hands were in his pockets, and he looked bored. He had already shown that he knew how to fight, and wouldn't have too much trouble. Goku of course wouldn't be an issue, and she was confident in her own skills.

When she looked at Mirajane though, Erza was surprised to see that the pale haired girl looked almost as excited as Goku. She had definitely been in similar situations before, and she liked it. The gleam in her eye, the slight upturn of her lips, her stance, everything indicated an experienced fighter preparing themselves for battle. Satisfied, Erza nodded to herself and turned back to face the witch.

"So, what are the rules of this tournament?"

"Hehehe… The five of my monsters will fight the five of you children. You will fight one on one elimination matches. When an opponent goes down, then the victor will stay in to battle the next fighter of the other side. A fighter will keep going until they are eliminated or choose to withdraw. You are eliminated if you get knocked out, fall out of the ring, or are unable to continue fighting for any reason. We will keep going until one side is completely eliminated, last team standing wins. Any questions?" The kids shook their heads and Baba smiled down at them.

"THEN LET"S BEGIN!"

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"What do you mean I'm going first?!" Levy shrieked at Erza, her eyes wide with panic.

"In battles like this, you generally start with your weakest fighter and then work up from there. The Fortuneteller will also start with her weakest, so you will have a decent chance at winning the fight."

"I don't really even know how to fight! Goku hasn't taught me anything yet!"

"Just consider this an early test of your abilities. You had Goku try and show everything he knew on his own first before teaching him right? This is sort of like that."

"I guess… but are you sure that I'll be fighting the weakest monster? Have you done something like this before?"

"No, I actually read it in a book."

"Wait, didn't I give you a book like that?"

"Yes you did."

"Erza, that book was a tragedy genre, all the main characters died in their fights!"

"Levy. That was a book, this is real life, try not to mix up the two."

"But… you!"

"I have full confidence in your abilities, now get into the ring. The Fortuneteller is starting to look impatient." Erza pushed the young mage forwards, smiling supportively as the girls desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. Levy nervously edged her way to the center of the stage, her eyes darting back and forth in a desperate search for escape.

Baba lowered her crystal ball down before the girl and began to speak.

"We are all set to begin the first round! For your opponent young lady, I have selected my most bloodthirsty combatant!" Erza completely missed the withering glare that was sent her way, all of her attention was on polishing a scuff on her armor.

"FANGS, YOU'RE UP! GET OUT HERE AND PROVE TO ME THAT YOU ARE WORTH WHAT I'M PAYING YOU FOR!"

A small bat flew out of the window of the palace, squeaking as it flew towards the ring. The creature flew straight at the ring and landed directly in front of Levy. Levy looked down at the bat, then shrieked as it vanished in an explosion of smoke. In the bat's place stood a thin, pale man. He was completely shirtless, showing off a torso that looked like it had starved to death. The man was dressed like a boxer, with baggy exercise shorts and bulky gloves designed for dealing out punishment. What caught the young girl's attention though were his teeth. Each tooth was sharpened to a fine point and far larger than normal, with the canines each the size of a small dagger. Every single tooth was dripping with saliva, leaving a small trail dripping out of the man's mouth.

Levy gulped. "Are you… are you a vampire?" she asked, face going pale.

The man grinned, showing off his teeth even more. "Yes."

"You're… you're not going to romance me are you?"

The vampire blinked.

"Uh… no."

"Oh thank goodness." Levy sighed, some of the color returning to her face. "Those books are an insult to literature. I don't think I could deal with that kind of thing happening to me." The vampire just frowned not sure what she was talking about.

Baba flew off to the side of the ring.

"Alright, Fangs the Vampire vs. Levy the Fairy Tail mage! Let's get this started, FIGHT!"

Levy flinched away, throwing up her hands to cover her head. However no attacks came, and after several seconds she hesitantly peeked around her arms. Fangs was dancing alone on the other side of the ring, his body creaking noisily as he hummed to himself. Levy looked over at the vampire with an expression of disbelief, then risked a look behind her to see Baba. The witch looked exasperated, but she made no move to intervene. The young mage quickly began strategizing, trying to remember every single thing she had ever read about vampires. They were supposed to have difficulty with sunlight, but it wasn't having any trouble at all, even in the middle of the desert, so that tactic was out.

At least he wasn't sparkling.

Vampires also couldn't cross running water, but that wouldn't help her win a fight…

"FANGS! GET IN THERE AND FIGHT ALREADY OR I'M NOT PAYING YOU AT ALL!" The boxer vampire stopped his dance, sending a shark-like grin over towards his employer. Then he moved.

All Levy saw was a flickering blur, and suddenly she was on the ground, clutching the side of her face and whimpering in pain. Fangs stood above her, reaching down to hoist her back to her feet. He slowly unhinged his jaw, bringing up his dripping, gleaming teeth up besides her throat. Thoughts flying a mile of minute, Levy brought her hand up and aimed it directly for the vampire's head. Her fingers flew through the air, forming the first word she could think of.

Garlic.

A single bulb of the vegetable popped into existence, flying towards Fangs and lodging itself in his mouth.

Fangs froze for a moment, and then shrieked.

Fangs dropped Levy, stumbling backwards crying in pain, his entire body shuddering as the substance attacked his insides. Seeing her advantage Levy quickly began writing once more, this time sending forth a small burst of air flying forwards to slam into the vampire's chest. With one last cry the undead man went flying through the air, splashing down into the body of water behind him. Baba was back in the center in an instant, glaring at the spot where the vampire had disappeared under the water.

"Fangs is out of bounds, the winner of the first round is Levy of Fairy Tail. Round two, your opponent will be See-Through the Invisible Man. Tell me child, do you want to continue fighting, or would you like to pass and have one of your friends handle the next battle?"

Levy brought her hand up to her still throbbing cheek and turned to look back at the rest of her group. Erza stepped towards the girl, motioning for her to come over.

"You have done your part, let the next person take over. You have shown that you are capable of fighting when you need to." Levy smiled and began to shakily make her way over to the group, her balance slightly off from the blow to her head. Goku jumped onto the arena and helped her back to the ground, congratulating her as they walked over. Mirajane then stepped forwards, her hands resting on her hips and a confident look in her eye.

"If you're all set then, how about I take this next one." She made to step up onto the stage, but stopped when Gray grabbed onto her shoulder.

"Why don't you just hold off for now. Out of everyone here, I'm the best chance at taking on someone invisible." Mira looked like she was about to protest, but just shrugged instead.

"Alright fine, you can take this guy on, but if you go down then I'm next."

"Sure thing, assuming I leave any left for you. I was thinking I could just clean up the rest of them by myself." The Fortuneteller laughed to herself when she heard that, earning a glare from Gray.

"Alright then tough guy, get in here and let's see if you are anything actually worth boasting about. Come on in and face your opponent. FIGHT!"

"Fight? How do you want me to fight someone who isn't even here"- WHAM! Gray groaned as he took a few steps backwards, clutching his jaw.

"Invisible, right. ICE MAKE: FLOOR!" Gray sent a concentrated burst of energy straight downward, coating the entire arena in a thick sheet of ice. There was a cry of surprise to his left, followed by the sound of someone slipping and falling to the ground. The very next second, Gray's hands were up and aimed in the general direction of the sound.

"ICE MAKE: CANNON!" The attack flew forwards and detonated, sending chunks of ice flying through the air. A few cracks in the ice appeared on the ground, showing the Invisible Man's path as he bounced and slid across the arena. See-Through stopped right over the edge of the water, barely stopping before he slid out of bounds. The man slowly made his way to his feet, trying to keep his balance. Once he managed to rise to his full height he looked up, straight at the incoming hammer. Gray smirked as he felt his icy weapon connect and send his opponent into the drink.

"Invisibility is pretty useless if I can hear you gasping like that. Hey old lady, I thought you said that these guys were supposed to be really tough amazing fighters? I'm not impressed so far." Baba looked at the ice mage for a moment, then started cackling again.

"Alright then, consider the warmups over then. Follow me back into the palace, and I'll show you the next location for the next round."

"Bring it on."

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Goku, Levy, Erza, and Mira stood with the Fortuneteller in a small viewing chamber, looking into a massive, poorly lit room. The room was mostly empty, just dark space, with a giant pool of boiling oil instead of a floor. However, on either side of the room were two massive statues, each over a hundred feet tall. Stone tongues were extended out of both statues mouths, touching together in the center of the room. Both of the statues mouths were actually doors, opening up so that one could stand on the narrow platform that the tongues provided. Gray stood on the tongue of the left statue, staring intently at the door across from him. After several moments Baba cleared her throat.

"ROUND THREE, GRAY OF FAIRY TAIL AGAINST BANDAGES THE MUMMY! FIGHT!" Gray continued watching the door, clenching his hands at his side as a giant, cloth covered man emerged from the shadows. The giant looked down at the ice mage for a moment, then let out a deep, booming laugh.

"Really Baba, you had to awaken me for a child? This little runt doesn't have a prayer against me. You are sentencing a child to a slow, torturous end."

"I don't know big guy, it's kind of hard to sound threatening while wearing toilet paper." Bandages snarled at the boy, clenching his hands together.

"You will pay for that insult." The mummy dashed forwards, swinging a massive fist straight at the ice mage's head. Gray brought up his arm to block, but Bandages attack still knocked him backwards, wincing as he felt the blow bruise his arm. Gray moved in, jumping up to kick at the mummy, but a massive hand closed around his leg, spinning him around to slam down into the ground. The mummy's massive foot slammed down into Gray's back, drawing out a cry of pain from the boy as the monster ground in his heel. The mummy lifted up his foot and kicked outwards, smashing into the mages' ribs and sending him tumbling over the side.

Gray spun downwards, racking his brain for any way to stop himself, until his decent was suddenly brought to a jolting halt. The battered boy looked up to see a bandage wrapped around his leg. He looked up to see the mummy grinning downwards at him, his arm outstretched and supporting the extended cloth that has caught him.

"Don't think you are done yet boy; that was way too fast for me to have enough pleasure in beating you. Now, get back up here!" With a heave Bandages brought Gray hurtling back up, straight for him.

"ICE MAKE: HAMMER!" Gray spun in the air to face upwards as he came back up, summoning his magical weapon once more and slamming it down on top of the mummy's head. The weapon impacted on the monsters head and shattered, sending shards of ice flying in all directions. Gray looked down at the hilt of his useless weapon and quickly jumped away, looking at his opponent for any sign of damage. The mummy stood unmoving, showing no reaction at all from the blow.

"Well boy, there's that energy you had before again. But you still lack the power. You should really surrender now, otherwise I might decide that I should start taking this seriously." Gray looked at the undead man for a moment, then he reached up and began unbuttoning his shirt. He continued to watch the mummy as he worked, finally getting the last button and tossing his shirt off to his friends in the waiting area. Goku grabbed the shirt and nodded at Gray, placing the clothing down carefully besides him.

"That's alright you undead freak, I'll be getting serious now as well!" Gray charged forwards, ducking under a punch from the mummy and landing a powerful uppercut to his jaw. The ice mage didn't let up, throwing up a wide variety of punches and kicks, forcing the mummy to take a few steps backwards as he blocked and dodged all of the attacks. When Gray sensed that they were getting near the end of one of the walkways, Gray leapt over the mummies head and landed on top of the statue.

"FULL POWER! ICE MAKE: DOUBLE CANNON!" Twin bursts of magical energy slammed into the mummy, kicking up a giant steam cloud as the power of the impact evaporated the ice. Gray brought his hands together, watching the cloud for any sign of movement in preparation for another shot. He was caught completely off guard when a half dozen bandages flew out from the cloud, tying him up. The cloth wrapped around his entire body in seconds, leaving only his head exposed. Bandages emerged from the cloud a second later, grinning confidently at his prisoner.

"Not bad boy, but far stronger opponents than you have tried that kind of attack in the past. Now, I believe I owe you some pain." The bandages around Gray began to squeeze like a constrictor, causing Gray to scream in pain as his bones threatened to break. The mummy picked the boy up, placing the mages back against his head, with one hand around his throat and the other by his knees.

"Now I'm going to squeeze, and I'm going to pull. We can make a game out of it, what part of your body do you think will give out first? Will your bones be crushed into dust, or will your back break and make your head meet your feet?" The Fairy Tail group watched in horror as Gray withered in pain, uselessly trying to free himself. Goku reached to his back and grabbed onto his Power Pole, spinning it around and taking aim at the mummy. Before he could move though, the bandages covering Gray were sliced to pieces. Bandages looked around in surprise, dropping the ice mage onto the ground as he did so. Gray looked up with blur eyes to see a hand in front of his face.

"Turns out you're not quite as wimpy as I thought you were." Mira gently hoisted Gray to his feet, placing herself between him and the mummy.

"Alright, get back through that door and go join the others. You forfeit, you aren't going to win this fight and there is no reason for you to die for a lost cause." The punk girl shooed the ice mage away and walked up directly in front of the massive monster.

"It's my turn now."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! AFTER THE INTIAL ROUNDS OF BATTLE, THE FAIRY TAIL TEAM FINDS THEMSELVES NECK AND NECK WITH THE MONSTERS! NOW WITH GRAY DOWN FOR THE COUNT, MIRAJANE IS READY TO MAKE HER MARK! CAN SHE BEAT THE BRUTAL MUMMY, OR WILL SHE BE STRUCK DOWN AS WELL? AND WHAT OF THE OTHER TWO MYSTERY OPPONENTS, HOW WILL THEY COMPARE TO OUR HEROES? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: CLASH OF THE DEMONS!


	7. Clash of the Demons

So Cameolot wasn't a big hit. Eh whatever, at the very least you guys all enjoyed the beginning and the end of the chapter, so I'll count it as a win. Don't worry, it was just a one off joke that I felt like doing. Actually, they will be going back there one time, but it will be pretty quick and there will only be one cameo.

This chapter ranks 5th in the chapters that I have been looking forwards to writing. Hopefully I can write this particular chapter just as well as I picture it in my own head.

Disclaimer-still don't own anything. Still don't see why I need to say that on a Fanfiction site.

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**Chapter 7: Clash of the Demons**

Gray had managed to limp his way into the viewing section with the rest of the group. His entire body was throbbing in pain but he refused any offers of help. Instead he stood with his back straight, his eyes trained on Mirajane.

The young girl was glaring up at Bandages the Mummy, her hands balled up into fists at her side. Her lips were turned up into a snarl, and her eyes were narrowed. Bandages looked down at the enraged girl and smiled.

"Why are you so upset girl? Your little pal didn't stand a chance, I haven't lost a fight since I became a monster, and nobody has ever been able to match my strength. You interrupted my game with the boy, so now you're going to have to take all the pain I would have inflicted on him. How long do you think you will last you end up broken at my feet like all the rest?"

"BANDAGES THE MUMMY VS MIRAJANE OF FAIRY TAIL! FIGHT!" Baba declared, cackling in amusement.

Mirajane smirked. "You call yourself a monster? I got my power while fighting a monster way worse then you. When it died my body absorbed all of its strength and made it my own. The people of the village freaked out, kicked me and my siblings to the curb and told us to get lost. We roamed around for a bit, and then we found out about a magical guild that didn't care about the fact I had demon powers. Took a while, but I was finally able to find somewhere I could live with my brother and sister without being labelled as freaks."

Her smirk widened as a dark miasma began to distort the air around Mira. Her hair started whipped out around her, lifting straight up into the air. Bandages looked on in interest, shifting his weight down into a fighting stance.

"But if I die here, then what will happen to them? I don't know, and I have no intention of finding out. Because of this, I WON"T LOSE!"

"SATAN SOUL!" The Fairy Tale mages watched as Mirajane vanished inside a giant black circle of energy. Bandages slid backwards from the power of the spell, bringing up his arms to shield his eyes. When the light faded, the girl was changed. Her punk style outfit had been replaced with a skintight red outfit with high leather boots. Her hair had spiked upwards, completely clear of her line of sight. A back line stretched downwards over here face, straight over her right eye. Her ears had elongated and grown points, and her hands changed into scaled talons. A long lizard tail had grown out from her lower back and swayed back and forth across the floor.

Bright blue eyes open and stared icily at the mummy, who smiled in return.

"Ohh… now this is interesting. If I wasn't dead, I bet my pulse would be racing." Instead of responding Mira launched forwards, smashing her fist into the monsters face. Bandages took the blow to the chin and shrugged it off, advancing towards the young girl and lashing out with a punch of his own. The attack sent the demon girl skidding backwards, struggling to stay on her feet. Bandages continued to advance, striking out with another massive punch. Then, to his shock, his fist was stopped. Mirajane had thrust her own arm out and grabbed on the mummy's fist. The two locked arms, pushing against one another, trying to outmuscle their opponent. Bandage's eyes widened in shock as the girl began to push him back, forcing him off balance.

"No human has ever matched my strength!" Bandages roared as he pushed back.

"Too bad for you! I'm a demon!" Mira slammed her head forward with a burst of dark magic, blasting Bandages backwards off the bridge. The undead warrior cried out as he fell, desperately lashing out with his wraps to latch onto the bridge. He swung upwards, bouncing off the walls and launching himself into the air over the bridge.

The monster descended on Mira from above, his fists clenched above his head for a massive downward strike. The demoness threw herself backwards, narrowly avoiding the mummy's fists as they slammed into the platform. The impact sent a massive shockwave across the room, cracking the bridge and sending rocks tumbling down into the burning liquid below. Mira spun in midair, slamming her tail into the mummy's head and her foot into his chest. Bandage's mouth opened in a cry of pain, then slammed shut when Mira's fist connected with his jaw. The monster took a few shaky steps backwards, panting and glaring over at Mira. Forcefully, he took a step forward, then collapsed.

Mira took a few seconds to collect herself, calming herself down and letting her breathing return to normal. Then a wicked grin split her face as she looked up at the Fortuneteller Baba.

"Next."

The witch burst out laughing at the girl, bringing a scowl to the girls face. Her tail flicked in irritation, cracking the stone beneath her.

"So a demon trumps mummy, good to know! However, I wonder just how successful you will be against another of your kind?" Mira's angry expression dropped, her face going completely blank.

Another demon?

Flashes entered her mind of her last encounter with a demon. The struggle, the blood, and the sight of her siblings in danger. The creature's laughter as he loomed over her, Lisanna held in his claws. Could she really go through that again? What if-

"GO MIRAJANE! YOU CAN DO IT!" The demon girl's head snapped back up, looking to see Goku standing up on the railing, a bright smile on his face. Scoffing to herself, Mirajane shook her head and returned the smile with her own confidant smirk, nodding over at the boy. Now wasn't the time to let those memories control her, she had beaten the demon back then, and she would beat this one now. The door across from her opened up, and her opponent stepped out from the shadows.

The man was completely blue, with a slightly lighter hue on his face compared to the rest of his body. Sharp horns were mounted onto his forehead, and giant wings extended out from his back.

"So this is the one that defeated Bandages hm? I have to say, I was expecting far more. However, as a fellow demon, then I would be more than willing to show you the exquisite pain that I can dispense, in fact I-URK!" The demon's rant was interrupted by Mirajane's fist burying itself into his gut.

"I got enough of the pointless threats from the mummy thanks. If you think want to show me pain, then stop talking and actually do something about it!"

"HEY! NO HITTING UNTIL I GIVE THE ORDER! SPIKE THE DEVILMAN VS MIRAJANE THE DEVILGIRL, FIGHT! There, now you can beat the crap out of each other." Mirajane launched herself forwards again, throwing a wide roundhouse punch at Spike's head. The Devilman dodged out of the way, slashing at her with his claws. Mira struggled to block and dodge, but then he swung out with his wings, clipping her across the head. Wincing in pain, she tried to counter with a low sweeping kick towards the demons knee.

Spike rolled off of the attack, allowing himself to fall off of the bridge. His wings opened up and he began hovering in the air, circling around Mira. The girl snarled and a flash of dark energy lit up on her back. Two massive bat wings burst from the magical spots she spread them wide and with a single beat launched herself into the air. With a flutter of wings the two met in the air, lashing out with everything they have.

As the fight progressed, Mira began to pick up on the Devilman's fighting style. He was fast. Faster then her. For every blow she landed, he landed three. But compared to Bandages…

He hit like a wimp. Looks like she would have to show this demon how it was done. She lurched back and spun, lashing out with her tail once more to bash him in the head, sending the demon spiraling off course with a grunt of pain. While he was off balance she rushed in, throwing off a heavy haymaker.

The Devilman threw out his wings, pushing himself under the blow and thrust the palms of both his hands directly in front of his gut. With a cry of rage he launched a raging ball of hellfire from his hands, blasting Mirajane back down into the bridge where she lay, not moving. Spike dive-bombed her, slamming both legs into her chest. He launched himself into the air with a flip and landed lightly on his feet.

"Well that takes care of this round then now doesn't it! I didn't even need to use my special ability, she couldn't even handle me normally!" Baba looked down at the demon and sighed.

"Spike, we've talked about this, make sure your opponent is actually down for good before bragging." Devilman frowned at the witch he half turned to look back at Mira, just in time to feel her claws wrap around his ankle.

He screamed as her grip tightened, shattering the bone. His screams rose as she yanked him off his feet, spinning around to slam her feet into his face, knocking him next to the statue on his side of the arena. Before he could get back on his feet the Takeover mage was beside him, slamming her foot into his ribs. He crashed into the statue, only to be grabbed by Mira once more and lifted up into the air.

The devil struggled feebly against the demon's grip, but he couldn't break it, Mira just smirked at him and threw him downwards, at the exact same spot that Bandages had damaged before. He broke right through it and tumbled down towards the boiling black liquid. Desperately he spread his wings in an attempt to gain control, managing to right himself just before hitting the oil. Hissing at the strain on his broken ankle he began to work his way back up to the platform. When he reached it, he hovered just above the ground and searched for his opponent. He found her on the opposite side of the arena. She had flown back to her companions and was smoothly gliding through the air above her comrades heads. Goku's eyes were sparkling with every barrel roll.

The blue devil's face began to turn purple as he watched the scene, gritting hiss teeth in rage.

"What…what do you think you are doing?" Mira glanced back at him; an easy smirk working its way onto her face.

"Well," she drawled "Goku looked bored over there, given his short attention span and all, and I thought I would entertain him for a bit while you were trying to dig yourself back up. You were taking such a long time after all. You sure you don't want a quick break old man?"

"You…little… brat!" he roared, rage dripping from his tone.

"Hey, no need to be so grouchy. It's your own fault that you can't hit as hard as the mummy. I just can't take you seriously after a fight like that."

"You bitch. Your arrogance will be your undoing! Do you have any idea what I'm capable of? I can-" His rant was interrupted when Mira slammed her fist into his gut, doubling him over in pain. Then she floated back over towards the viewing area, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I thought I told you that I hate those long monologues like that. If you are going to do something, just do it!"

"FINE! I have the power to take any negative energy, any negative emotion a person has inside, and use it to make their heart explode. As a demon, there is no way you will be able to survive. DEVILMITE BEAM!" Mirajane's eyes widened when she realized that she was actually in trouble. Demons were evil incarnate, she had zero defense against the attack. Spike brought his hands up the sides of his head, with his first two fingers extended and pointing towards his head. A spiraling pink beam of energy shot forwards, heading straight towards the mages' chest.

Mira's wings retracted, allowing gravity to pull her downwards out of the way of the attack. The beam missed her head by centimeters, and instead flew right past her and directly into a surprised Goku's face. The Demon girl watched in shock as the boy vanished in a flash of pink lightning.

"HA! I guess you truly are a demon, sacrificing a friend to die in your place right after making a big speech about not letting them die. How long do you think it will take for your pal over there to explode?" Mirajane's mouth was open in an expression of pure horror as the pink energy continued to spark around Goku, her body was completely ignoring any attempt to move.

Gray grabbed Erza and Levy and pulled them back, struggling to keep them from running over to Goku and wind up caught up in the attack. Erza's eyes began to well up, barely putting up any resistance as Gray pulled her to huddle in the corner of the room. She had failed again, she let her friends get hurt.

As quickly as it had struck, the Devilmite beams faded out of existence and returned the room back to its eerie darkness. There was a stunned silence for a moment as everyone observed the result of the Devilman's most lethal technique.

"Well those lights were really pretty, but can you do any other colors? I think it might look better in purple instead of pink. Or how about a light orange instead?" Goku was standing completely unharmed, looking over his body for any remnants of the attack.

"NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE, NOBODY COULD SURVIVE THE DEVILMITE BEAM, EVERYONE HAS NEGATIVE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS THAT I CAN MANIPULATE! Unless… no he couldn't really have a pure heart could he? How could this be? That attack has killed millions, even monks who devoted their entire lives to finding inner peace popped open like balloons. What can I do, even if I beat the demoness, I have no possible way to beat that boy!" Spike's entire body was quivering in fear as he spoke, drawing Mirajane's attention back over to him. Her expression blackened, and an aura of pure hatred seemed to radiate from her body.

"If you really want to see evil explode that badly, then try this!" Bringing her hands together she created a sphere of dark energy the size of a grapefruit, rotating rapidly between her palms.

"SOUL EXTINCTION!" Thrusting her arms forwards a beam of pure negative energy rushed towards the surprised monster, smashing into him. The beam blasted him backwards through the wall, carrying him high into the sky until it exploded into a massive black sphere. As the ceiling crumbled the group was able to watch the charred form of the Devilman fall down into the water below in a massive splash.

Mira hesitantly flew back over towards the side area, collapsing to her knees as soon as she landed. She form shimmered, and she reverted back into her original body and clothing. Her head hung low as she panted, trying to catch her breath.

"That attack…I haven't managed to master it… I'm completely out of power now." A hand entered the girl's blurry vision, and she looked up to see that smiling face of Goku above her. She grabbed on and allowed him to pull her up, swaying uneasily on her feet. Gray was quickly besides her, helping her brace herself and stay upright. She nodded her thanks and then looked over towards the still smiling monkey child.

"Sorry, I didn't take him seriously and you guys got caught in the crossfire. I almost got you killed."

"It's no big deal, that attack didn't really do anything." Baba flew over, studying Goku intently.

"Boy, I suspect that if that attack had hit any other living being on this planet it would have killed them. I've never heard of someone with a completely pure heart before, I must say this is quite a surprise. If you all survive my last fighter, you might have quite the interesting future ahead of you. No time to dally though, I want to get this over with in time to watch my anime tonight! Seeing as how my indoors arena in totally trashed, we'll go back to the one outside. Let's go, chop chop! You've got a challenge to finish!"

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The group returned outside to see an old man with a fox mask covering his face standing in the middle of the arena. There was nothing too special about him.

Except the golden halo hovering above his head.

"Is that a dead guy?" Baba grinned down at Levy, proudly patting her crystal ball.

"You bet it is! With my powers, I can pull someone out of heaven or hell and let them back into the land of the living for 24 hours. You beat up all of my monsters, so now you get to go up against an undead champion! Now then, demon girl is clearly spent. Who's up next for you kids?" Erza eyed the old man wearily, drawing her sword and stepping up towards the ring.

"Undead or not, I shall defeat him and put an end to this game!" The old man help up a single hand, placing his other arm behind his back.

"Actually miss, I mean no offense, but I don't want to fight you." The man nodded towards Goku. "He's the one I want to fight." Erza pointed her sword at the man in response, sinking into a defensive fighting stance.

"That is unfortunate, as I will be the one you fight instead." Goku looked curiously over at the martial artist, then jumped up onto the arena beside his friend.

"He said he wants to fight me Erza, don't worry I'll beat him!"

"No Goku, you already almost died earlier from that demon's attack. I shall handle this, it is my turn to do battle."

"I almost died? I don't know, I feel fine. Those pretty lights didn't do anything besides hurt my eyes a bit. Besides, you interrupted my fight with Mirajane the other day, I want to fight the old ghost man!"

"I don't want you to get hurt! I'll take this battle!" The two continued to bicker for several minutes, drawing a sigh out of the old man.

"Excuse me children, but I believe I have a solution to your dilemma." The two looked up in surprise, they had been so caught up in their argument that their surroundings had faded out of their minds. Erza looked sheepish while Goku's face lit up in excitement.

"Really, you'll help us decide? Thank you Mister Ghost Man!"

The man chuckled "It's no trouble at all really. You see the solution is simple. The problem right now is that you have two fighters. All I have to do to fix it…" The masked man suddenly faded from view, vanishing right before the kids eyes. Erza brought her blade up before her, scanning around her for any signs where he had gone. Suddenly she felt a rustle behind her, and the old man's voice was back.

"…is to take one of you out." The man's hand lashed out like a lightning bolt, chopping downwards into the back of the red head's neck. Her eyes widened in sudden shock and pain before glazing over. Then with a small sigh she collapsed, unconscious before her head hit the ground. Goku watched his friend fall in shock before balling up his fists and launching himself at the man. His punch passed straight through the man, the image of him fading away after being disturbed. Goku swung around, aiming himself back towards the old man's original spot where he rematerialized a moment later.

"Grey, get Erza off the stage right now. This guy's good, I don't want her in the way." The ice mage quickly dashed up onto the stage and dragged Erza off, passing her over to Levy who immediately began looking her over to assess the damage. Baba floated over to the opposite side of the ring behind the fox faced fighter, cackling loudly.

"That takes care of one of them right away! Alright then, final round! This one is for all of the marbles! Goku of Fairy Tail vs. Fox Face of the Otherworld! FIGHT!" Goku dashed forwards and leapt into the air, flying towards Fox Face to deliver a brutal kick. The man calmly stepped to the side, grabbing onto the boy's ankle as he flew past. With a flick of his wrist, Fox Face swung Goku face first to the ground. A groan worked its way out of his throat as he slowly stood back up, the old man waiting patiently for him to rise. Goku sunk back into his fighting stance and Fox Face did the same, the two perfectly mirrored each other as they looked for an opening.

Then the old man charged.

The attack was faster than Goku had ever experienced before, half a dozen punches found their way to his stomach in the space of a second. Spittle flew out of the boy's mouth as the impacts sent him skidding backwards, but moments later he was charging forwards again, throwing his own combination of punches and kicks at his elderly opponent. Fox Face easily batted aside each attack, never allowing himself to get hit. Ducking under one of Goku's blows he moved in, standing up straight and slamming his head into the boy's chin. The masked man deftly sidestepped the blood that sprayed out from between his teeth before it could land on his clothes, then he thrust out his hand and sent Goku tumbling to the ground.

He lay on the ground for longer this time, coughing up blood onto the cold stone. Finally he rose, his chest heaving in the effort. He shakily sunk back into his fighting stance, earning a nod of admiration from his opponent.

"Your tenacity is quite impressive young one, though your speed and strength are a bit below what I had been hoping. But that's nothing a bit of training won't fix, I'm seeing some great potential with you! Now… I have one last test that I would like to work out." The old man bent over, cupping his hands together near his hip.

"So…let's just see how well you can handle this. KA….ME…HA…ME…" Goku's eyes widened with shock as a blue light began to form between the man's hands. The stance, the chant, the light, all of it was exactly like what he had been seeing in his dreams.

"HAAAAAA!" Fox Face pushed both of his hands forwards, launching a thick blue beam straight towards the injured boy. Goku launched himself sideways, rolling across the ground and landing on his side as the attack sliced through the air and out over the lake. The beam had cut a large trench through the ground, completely disintegrating the stone. Goku looked at the damage in awe, the attack seemed even more powerful than the Soul Extinction blast that Mirajane had fired off earlier. But it still seemed so familiar…

"Oh, so you did manage to survive it! That's terrific, I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I was overestimating your abilities. Now, was there anything else I wanted to test you on? Hmm… let me think for a moment."

Goku looked down at his hands, slowly clenching and unclenching them. With a few calming breaths he focused his senses inward, trying to draw up every last remaining drops of ki he still had in him. Closing his eyes he allowed his visions to guide him, sinking down into the same stance that Fox Face had moments before. The old man stopped what he was doing, watching the younger fighter with interest.

"KA! ME! HA! ME!" A whining sound filled the air as a blue sphere energy formed between Goku's palms. Fox Face let out an appreciative grunt, bending his knees and shifting his legs into a ready stance.

"HAAA!" Like before a blue beam burst forth, though Goku's attack was noticeably smaller and slower than the one the masked man had fired off at him. When the attack got close to him Fox Face bent his legs even further and jumped. He flew high into the air, well above the Baba's castle before spinning himself around and beginning his descent. Goku watched as the old man moved like a bullet straight towards him, bracing himself the best he could for the impact.

The collision sent out a shockwave that knocked all of the kids to the ground, and Grey only just managed to twist his body out of the way in time so he didn't land on top of Erza's unconscious form. The majority of the arena had turned into a massive crater from the force of the impact, easily deep enough to bury a large magical vehicle inside. The masked man stood on the edge of the arena, his arms calmly folded behind his back as he observed the damage of the attack.

Lying in the center of the crater was Goku. His entire body was covered in bruises and cuts, and his shirt had been reduced to a few shreds of cloth. His eyes were glazed over in pain and staring straight up into the air, completely unmoving. The old man continued staring down into the hole watching the boy. Baba floated forward, looking into the pit to for any sign of movement. When she saw the Goku she smiled widely, and opened her mouth to call the match. Suddenly the old man was beside her, shaking his head.

"Not yet." Baba looked quizzically at the man, then back down into the hole. At the bottom of the pit, Goku twitched. He moved like he was swimming in molasses, pushing himself up onto his feet in slow motion. He ignored the blood dripping down his body and started to climb up, out of the hole. He kept his pace slow, making sure his footing was secure before moving up. It took him a few minutes but he was able to reach the top, standing up straight and looking the masked man dead in the eye. The shifted his feet and sunk down, once again going into his combat stance. The old man laughed.

"Perfect my boy, perfect! That's just what I was looking for in you! Alright then, I know just how to end this." Goku's eyes narrow, blinking the out blood of his vision. The old man nodded at the boy and took a single step.

Backwards.

The man landed on the desert sand and calmly reached up to his face, pulling off his mask. Goku blinked.

"Grandpa?"

"Hello Goku my boy! You've become far stronger since I've last seen you, I'm so proud! Baba, if you would please?" The ancient witch nodded, sending out a pulse of magic that covered each of the kids in a pale green light. When the light faded all of their wounds had vanished, and their energy had been completely restored. Erza stirred on the ground, picking her head up from the dirt and joining the rest of the group to walk over to Goku. The boy had surged forwards the second his body was restored wrapping his arms around his former guardian. Gohan patted the boy's head lightly as he chuckled to himself.

"It's so good to see you after all of this time. You've gotten stronger since I was killed! So, why don't you introduce me to your friends?" Goku nodded and began to point to each of the mages in term.

"The boy without his shirt on is Grey. He has some really cool freeze powers, and he's pretty funny cause he's always losing his clothes. The girl with the blue hair is Levy, and she's super smart! She been teaching me all sorts of stuff, like how to read! The white hair girl is Mirajane. She's really cranky most of the time, but she's super strong and she can even fly! The girl with the red hair is Erza, I met her out by our house. She's my best friend!" The Fairy Tail group nodded and said hello to the older man, though Mira and Grey both took the opportunity to smack him upside the head. Erza had a light blush on her face and Levy was just grinning happily.

"It's good to see that you've found some friends, I've been worrying about you in the Afterlife."

"But you're back now Grandpa, can't you stay?"

"I'm sorry, I wish I could. Unfortunately Baba's magic will only last for so long. My time limit is actually almost up, I only have a few minutes left until I have to return." Goku's eyes flooded with tears, and he clung to Gohan even tighter.

"But you can't go, I've missed you. You can't, you can't!"

"I've got no choice Goku, the dead can't stay in the world of the living. You have some good friends here, you can count on them from now on. And if they are precious to you, then you protect them with everything you have, alright?" Goku quietly nodded, sniffling to himself in an attempt to stop the tears. Erza stepped forwards, patting him on the back lightly. Goku turned and gave her a nod and a small smile. Gohan watched the pair quietly for a moment, appraising them.

"Goku, before I go I have something for you." The old man looked expectantly at Baba who summoned a small chest.

"This is some old training gear I had been planning on giving you when you were old enough, Baba was kind enough to retrieve it for me so I could let you have it now. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to use it all." Gohan handed the box over to Goku, who let out a startled cry as the height of the box nearly sent him toppling over. Cautiously he put the chest down and began to search through it, growing more and more excited by the items he saw inside.

Taking advantage of Goku's distraction, Gohan walked over to Erza, gently he grabbed her arm and guided her a short distance away.

"So you are my Grandson's best friend?"

"Yes sir, I suppose I am."

"Alright then… in that case I need a favor. This may sound strange, but have you ever seen Goku with a tail?"

"Yes, but it got cut off shortly after I met him."

"That's good, but eventually it will grow back. Young lady, when that happens I need you to cut off his tail again."

"You want me to hurt Goku?!"

"NO! I can't explain, but his tail is dangerous, to himself and those around him. You must promise me, for the safety of my Grandson, please make sure that you always get rid of his tail as soon as you see it return!"

"I…I… If this will truly help Goku, then I will do it."

"Thank you my dear, this is a great weight off of my conscious."

"HEY ERZA, CHECK OUT ALL OF THIS AWESOME STUFF!" Goku grabbed the Scarlet haired girl and pulled her over, showing her all of the equipment that his grandfather had given him. The old man grinned to himself when he saw how happy the young boy was, but then he looked over towards Baba and sighed.

"Goku…I'm all out of time." The boy immediately looked up and sent a sad gaze up at the man who raised him.

"You have to go now?"

"Time is all up, if I stay here for too long then I risk fading out of existence rather than just returning to the Afterlife."

"Well then… I love you Grandpa! I'll see you someday in the future, and I'll tell you about every single adventure I've ever been on!"

"That sounds wonderful my boy." Gohan turned to face the rest of the group, hunching his shoulders slightly as he did so. "Alright you lot… you take care of him for me. I can't be there for him anymore, I'm going to have to rely on his friends to be there instead. Please… just watch out for him." The four kids nodded solemnly, promising that they would. Gohan's face broke out into a great smile and he sighed contently.

"Thank you." With a flash he was gone, vanishing from their plane of existence and returning to the afterlife. All that remained were a few golden sparks, slowly drifting off towards the horizon with the wind.

"Goodbye, Grandpa." Goku hung his head, a few teardrops splashing down to the ground in front of him. The rest of the group looked on in respectful silence, waiting for Goku to finish mourning.

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH OF THAT SAD STUFF, I SAID I WANT TO BE DONE WITH YOU LOT IN TIME TO WATCH MY ANIME!" The kids jumped at the sound of the impatient witch, now floating angrily above them.

"Alright, congratulations for beating my challenge and all that. For your reward, I'll keep our agreement and leave this area. However, Gohan convinced me I should throw in some extra prizes since I had been planning on doing that already. I actually would have already been gone if you had shown up tomorrow. Now let's see… Little Ms. Punk Rock come over here!" Mirajane scoffed as she stepped forwards, her hands clenched angrily.

"Alright, since you did the most work in this fight, I'll give you one of my better prizes. I stole this off my brother the other day, it's supposed to give you a wish or something if you can collect them all." To both the demon girl and the old witch's surprise, Goku recognized the gift.

"Hey, that's the three star Dragon Ball! It's just like my four stat ball from Grandpa!" Goku pulled out the ball, holding it up to compare it with Mira's. Baba looked at the two balls and began to laugh.

"How about that, you lot are already on your way to getting that wish! Just five more to go and you are all set! Alright, bookworm you're up!"

The witch looked over Levy for a minute. "Hmm… a word mage… I suppose it would be irresponsible to give you the Necronomicon, you might start summoning chthonian demons. Kami would get mad if I let that happen again… Oh! I think I have just the thing for you." Baba snapped her fingers and a chest appeared, floating in midair in front of the mage.

"Open it."

Levy did, inside she found a feather quill. The feather was a brilliant orange, which shimmered in the sunlight.

"Do you know what that is?" Levy shook her head. "It's a phoenix feather quill. They're very rare, because phoenix feathers tend to burst into flame when you try to pick them up. But once they are made into a quill like that, they can be very powerful. Once you get the hang of it, any word you write will become amplified. It can do other things too, but I'm sure you'll figure it out. Try not to burn your hand off." Levi nodded in wonder, completely mesmerized by the feather.

"Right right, NEXT! You, stripper boy get over here!" Grey let out a grunt of annoyance as he stepped forwards, his eyebrows twitching.

"Alright, here, take this magic necklace. It'll let you summon your clothes back to you after you throw them away."

"Why the hell would I need something like that?"

"…You realize you have a problem right."

"I do not!"

"Whatever, I figure that will probably help you financially, you won't need to spend some much replacing them. What are you still standing there for boy? Step back so the red head can get her present!" Erza eased her way around a fuming Gray and took her place in front of the witch.

"Alright, what do I have for you? Oh, I could give you some magical armor! Wait, no I fed that to the hellhounds… maybe the flight boots? No no no, those launched the last person who wore them into space, died horribly in the vacuum, that's no good. Hmm, well I suppose I could just give you this." The old witch held up a weathered old red key, placing it into Erza's outstretched hand.

"Don't know what it opens, and don't know what it does. Maybe you'll have better luck with finding the lock it opens than I have. Now that just leave the little martial artist doesn't it. No question what gift you should get, you definitely have a pure heart if you can survive the devilmite beam. This is the last of the magical items I was able to take from my useless brother before he left to go peeping on woman back in that miserable hut he calls a home. FLYING NUMBUS GET OVER HERE!" A small yellow cloud appeared out from the sky, rushing downwards and coming to a stop directly in front of the witch.

"Alright Nimbus, the little guy over there is your new master alright? Take care of him, and take him where he needs to go." Goku looked over the cloud quizzically, giving it a few experimental pokes.

"So what am I supposed to do with this? Do I eat it?"

"You don't eat magical clouds moron, you ride them! People with a pure heart can stand up on the cloud and have it carry them to wherever they want to go."

"Really! That's so cool! Thank you scary witch lady!"

"Whatever kid, my show is about to start. I'll be going now, maybe I'll see you again maybe I won't. No skin off my back either way." Another massive burst of magic erupted out from the witch's crystal ball, forcing the entire group to cover their eyes. When the light faded, the Fairly Tail mages were left completely alone in the empty desert once again.

"Well, that was kind of fun!" Levy smiled brightly at the others.

"Yeah, but I'm just glad that we didn't end up with losing die. Plus, I'm not the only one who lost his clothes this time. Though maybe next time it could be one of the girls instead…"

Goku laughed as Mira and Erza simultaneously smashed Grey into the ground, leaving him with a massive lump on his head. Mirajane stepped over the downed boy and walked over to Goku, examining the yellow he was jumping up and down on.

"I think you might have won the best gift there, I can't even use mine right now. But I wonder, how fast do you think that cloud is?"

"I don't know, but I bet its super-fast!"

"How about we put that theory to the test! It looks like all four of you can fit on there. SATAN SOUL!"

Mirajane vanished into the transformative light, reemerging in her winged demon form. So you take the rest of the losers up on that cloud, and I'll fly myself. First back to the guild wins! What do you think, you up for a challenge?" Goku grinned and grabbed onto Gray, throwing him up and onto the cloud. The moment he touched the cloud he fell right through it.

"What the hell? I thought that old bat could say people could ride on this thing."

"Hmmm…" Goku grabbed Levy and tossed her upwards. She landed on the cloud with a soft thump, but didn't fall through. Erza quickly climbed up before Goku could toss her. Goku jumped up himself and looked back at Gray. "I don't know. Maybe it just doesn't like you."

"…It's a cloud. It's not supposed to like people."

"Well…" Levy mused. "She did say that only people with a pure heart can ride on the Nimbus."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"It means you're a pervert, Gray." Said Erza, crossing her arms and staring at the ice mage with a judging look in her eye. "It's probably all the stripping you do."

Before Gray could start yelling, Goku jumped down and grabbed him again. "I have an idea! I'll ride the Nimbus and just hold onto Gray."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that plan."

"Oh come on!" Mirajane complained, "Would you guys hurry up!"

"Goku jumped onto the cloud, holding onto Gray's arms. "You bet we're ready! We're totally gonna beat you back!"

"Guys! No. Come on. Goku. GOKU!? NOOOOOOO!" Gray's cries faded into the distance as the Nimbus and Mira launched into the air.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! WE TAKE A BRIEF JUMP INTO THE FUTURE AND INTRODUCE SOME MORE OF OUR MAJOR CHARACTERS! BUT EVERYTHING DOESN'T ALWAYS GO AS PLANNED, AND SOMETIMES PEOPLE PAY THE PRICE FOR IT. WHAT WILL HAPPEN, AND HOW WILL IT EFFECT FAIRY TAIL? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, THE PROMISE!"

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Alright folks, just a heads up. The next chapter is going to be the last one before the major time skip where I hop into the beginning of the regular Fairy Tail storyline. However, I won't be keeping everything exactly the same as in cannon, and I have plans to add in a couple of my own original arcs here and there as well. Also, I'm not going to be keeping you consistent team throughout the entire story, I'll be rotating through a bunch of the other guild members.

But not Jet and Droy. Just…no.

I'll probably let you guys throw suggestions at me for who goes on what mission, just as long as you don't ask for Team Natsu every single time. Alright people, until next time!


	8. The Promise

Last chapter had some pretty good reviews, though some people seem really upset at what I did with Goku's tail. You guys do realize that it grows back after 6 months or so right? It's not like it will be gone forever. But you can forget about Super Saiyan 4, I'm not even sure if I want to include the first level anywhere in here. I hate stories about overpowered, unbeatable characters, and that is exactly what would happen to this story the second I added that in. The Oozaru will most likely play a role in here somewhere down the road though, so you can watch out for that.

Also, I found a timeline of Fairy Tail. It turns out that Natsu was supposed to join up before the Strauss siblings. It doesn't make any sort of impact on the story, it just bugs me a little bit. Oh well, I'm not about to go back and retcon the last 3 chapters just to fit him in. So in case you couldn't tell before, this is an AU story.

As for those asking about the pairing, now that would be spoiling things if I told now wouldn't it? However, I will promise you that this is NOT a harem fic. I'll read them now and then if they are good, but I don't feel like writing them.

Disclaimer blah blah blah (Don't own anything except plot)

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**Chapter 8: The Promise**

Erza sat in silence at the bar of Fairy Tail, occasionally taking a sip out of her tea. The guild was nearly empty today, the only ones hanging around were a few of the older members, who were enjoying a meal together. She had intentionally separated herself from them, taking advantage of one of the guild's rare moments of peace. With how crazy this place usually was, having a moment to reflect was a rare treat.

To think it had been five years since she had arrived here.

Despite everything that had happened lately, it still felt like hardly any time had gone by since coming to the guild. Only a couple of years after joining the guild, Goku, Erza and Mirajane had quickly pulled away from the rest of their age group in skill and power.

Makarov noticed their progress and had begun working personally with them to better assess their skills and abilities. He had tested them, looking to see if any of them had what it took to join the elite S class mages. Mirajane and Erza's rivalry, while not as fierce as it once was, had pushed the two to their limit to try and achieve the honor of testing to receive the high ranking. In the end, both of them had managed to achieve the rank in record time.

Goku, on the other hand, was unable to achieve the same rank. He had the power, he had the skill, but Makarov still couldn't see him possessing the mental strength and critical thinking necessary to become an S rank.

Erza, though she honestly agreed with the master's assessment, couldn't help feeling some guilt over the situation. Had she been more conscious of the issue she might have been able to help Goku with his problems, and allowed him to move up to the rank he deserved. Fortunately he didn't really seem to care about the rankings all too much yet. He spent his time with his having fun with his friends and working through vigorous training regiments to improve his strength. He trained with anyone he could, trying to develop new techniques and refine the old ones. He also worked with some of the guild members to try and help train them as well, helping everyone that was willing. The first person he had put the most effort into training was, of course, Levy. After she had finally declared that he had mastered the basics of reading and writing, he had helped her maximize the strength of her magic as much as he could.

Erza sipped her tea again and sighed. Everyone had changed so much recently, in many cases it was almost like they were completely different people. On top of that there were all of the new faces around the guild. The troubled and weary seemed to flock to the guild, and Makarov accepted every single person in with open arms. One newcomer in particular though stood out from the rest of the group.

At that moment the guild doors slammed open, snapping the red head out of her thoughts. A pinked hair teen walked in, a small blue winged cat hovering by his shoulder. He anxiously glanced around the room before spotting Erza and making his way over towards her. Sighing the girl put down her cup turned to face him.

"Hello Natsu, Happy, how are you today?"

"Bored!" he whined, sitting down and placing his face on the table. "Lisanna is supposed to come back with her siblings from Mira's S class mission today and I want to know what happened. I can't believe that she got to go on an S class mission before I did! She's so lucky!"

"Aye!" Happy chimed in.

"It was Mirajane's choice who to bring along for the mission, you can't blame her for wanting to spend some time with her siblings."

"Yeah, but now nobody fun is here except for you. All I've done the last few days is just fish with Happy. Would've kept going too, but Happy started looking a bit chubby and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to fly anymore."

"Hey! I'm not fat!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. So what are you doing Erza?"

"I'm just trying to enjoy my day off."

"A day off huh? That sounds kinda lame. Oh, I know! Hey Erza, fight me!" Erza's eyebrow twitched and she glared daggers at the hot headed mage. Natsu saw her expression and brought his hands out in front of him, slowly backing away from the irritated blade master.

"When I saw that I am taking the day off, that means I am NOT going to be fighting. If you try anything, I will make you regret it!" Natsu grinned sheepishly, nudging Happy in front of him as protection.

"You don't want to fight today, I hear you loud and clear! Isn't that right Happy?"

"Aye sir!" Erza continued her glare for several seconds before she relented and picked back up her tea.

"I have been planning on going on an S class mission later on this week, and I am planning on taking Goku to accompany me. If you would like, you could come along as well. It would be good experience for you for when you eventually become an S class yourself somewhere down the line." Natsu's eyes lit up as Erza talked, and he began shaking with excitement.

"Really? You mean it? You can count me in, that would be awesome! I'm all fired up now!"

"If you are fired up, then could you please reheat my tea? It got cold while we were talking."

"What? Oh, uh… yeah sure." Erza held up her cup over Natsu's hand, and the mage sparked a small flame in his palm. The two held that position for several seconds until the cup started steaming and Erza nodded gratefully. Natsu put out the flame and sat down beside her, with Happy plopping down on top of his head.

Erza eyed him for a moment, then grinned wickedly into her teacup.

"So how have you been getting along with Lisanna lately?"

"What do you mean? We are just getting along like me normally do, just hanging out and taking care of Happy."

"I've noticed that she has been spending a lot of her time with you recently, maybe even more than she spends with her siblings. I suspect that the reason Mira was so adamant that the three of them go on a request was because she missed being together with them all of the time."

"How would you know that? The way you and Mira are always smacking each other around, how do you talk to her?"

"Mira and I aren't always fighting, you just only pay attention to us when we are. We have had some very interesting talks before, and only a complete idiot would miss how much she cares for her siblings."

"Well yeah, they're the only people she doesn't punch when they are annoying her!" he replied with the voice of experience.

Erza shrugged and went to take another sip of her drink, only to find it empty. She sighed and started looking for a nearby waitress, hoping for a refill. Natsu took the opportunity to order some food and a drink for himself as well, grinning widely when a glass of his favorite napalm soda was placed in front of him. He began to chug it enthusiastically, sending flickers of fire all around over the wooden surface. It was no accident that the bar had long since been fireproofed.

"You're lucky that Goku has built up my tolerance to poor table manners. Otherwise I might be forced to punish you for eating in such a disgusting manner. In fact, I'm still unsure that I shouldn't do so anyways." Natsu gulped loudly then slowed down his pace, sweat dripping down his face as he eyed Erza nervously. The red head merely sipped her tea and the fire dragon slayer continued his meal. Natsu sat in silence, doing his best to avoid setting off the high explosive that was Erza's temper. At first he seemed to be doing quite well.

Then Goku walked in.

"GOKU! FIGHT ME!" Natsu was on his feet the second the dark haired teen was through the door, both of his hands covered in a blazing flame. Happy, thrown off by the sudden movement found himself clinging to the side of Erza's face. With a huff, Erza removed the errant feline and moved him to her shoulder.

"Natsu, must you really do this the second he walks through the door?"

"HECK YEAH, I WANT A FIGHT, AND GOKU'S NEVER LET ME DOWN BEFORE!"

"He's never lost to you either…"

"Well, that's gonna change right now! You ready Goku?" Goku was faced sideways, shifting his head between the door and his fiery opponent.

"I'm all set, but before we start-"

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu launched forwards, forcing Goku to duck out of the way to avoid the flaming punch. He sidestepped a pair of kicks and deflect another group of punches with his forearm.

"Hang on a sec, I was trying to tell you-"

"Fire Dragon Claw!" Goku dropped to the floor to allow a blaze kick to pass over his head and then struck out with his own leg, tripping Natsu onto the ground. Both fighters were instantly back onto their feet, but Goku was the first one prepared to strike.

"Rock!" A hard punch slammed into Natsu's cheek, snapping his head back.

"Scissors!" The dragon slayer threw up his hands and managed to block the eye poke, but the force of Goku's attack made Natsu face palm himself.

"Paper!" The final open handed strike caught the pink haired mage under the chin, slamming his jaw shut and sending the mage crashing back into the bar. Erza's lip came up into a small half smile, no matter how many times Goku used that simple move on Natsu and Gray they still couldn't manage to defend themselves against it. Erza looked over towards the martial artist and her smile faltered slightly, the teen looked agitated.

"What's wrong Goku? What was it you were trying to say?"

"I was trying to let Natsu know that the Strauss' are back. I was flying back over the town on Nimbus, and I saw Mirajane and Elfman making their way over here." Hearing the Strauss's names Natsu burst up onto his feet, excitement in his eyes.

"They're finally back? Alright, I can finally ask Lisanna how the mission went! Come on Happy, let's go see them!" The cat thrust its hand up into the air and let out a hearty "Aye sir!" as he prepared to take flight. Erza snatched him out of the air before he could make any progress.

"Hold on Natsu, just wait here for them. Goku only saw Mirajane and Elfman, Lisanna probably went home first or something. When the other two get here you can ask where she is so you don't have to go tearing through the town looking for her."

"I won't tear through town, I just want to go see how the mission went!" Natsu turned and began to walk towards the door, a great grin widely as he walked. The grin vanished when Erza's armored fist slammed his head down into the ground.

"Idiot, listen to me when I talk to you." Natsu held up a shaky thumbs up from his positon on the ground, and then began to work on peeling his face out of the floor. Master Makarov chose that moment to emerge from the second floor balcony.

"Do you brats really need to trash the guild at every given opportunity? The repair crew just finished up fixing all of the fire damage a week and a half ago, we don't have the money to bring them back in this soon!" Natsu spit some splinters out of his teeth and craned his neck up to look at the old man.

"Sorry Gramps."

"You don't need to be sorry, you just need to go make enough jewels to pay me back." The damage wasn't that much this time, it should only take you a few jobs to pay this off."

"Aw man, this sucks." Makarov chuckled before turning his diminutive frame over to face the other two teens. Erza nodded at the elderly mage, and Goku gave him a cheerful wave. Makarov returned the gestures with a wide grin.

"Erza, hope your day off has been going alright. And Goku, glad to see you made it back in one piece from that harpy extermination mission. I just heard from the village representative, they were very grateful for your work, and you even left the town hall standing this time. Nice work. Now, I believe that you said the Takeover Siblings have returned as well? When they get back we should see about throwing a celebration! I'm sure Mira would enjoy a party to celebrate her brother and sister getting through their very first S class mission."

At that moment the door opened once again, and Mira and Elfman walked into the building. Makarov's smile grew and he taped his staff down into the ground.

"Perfect, we were just talking about you! Now we just need to wait for Lisanna, and the party can begin!" A choked sound forced its way out of Elfman's throat, and he hung his head low. Mirajane's shoulders shook slightly as she wiped a few strands of hair out from in front of her face. The guild master's grin dropped when her face became visible. The demon girl's face was caked with grime, with wide tear stains on both sides of her face. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and her skin was pale.

"Child, what happened to you? Are you alright?" Mira rubbed at her face and sniffled, trying to compose herself. Her breath hitched, getting faster and faster.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

IN.

OUT.

"LISANNA IS DEAD!"

The guild was thunderstruck. Everyone seemed to freeze where they stood, nobody even dared to breath. With tears streaming down her face Mirajane continued.

"We were trying to fight a giant beast in the mountains, and it caught me off guard. Elfman had to save me by possessing the beast and trying to take his powers. He was able to hold it for a few seconds, but…it beat him. He was rampaging, and was probably going to kill me. Lisanna got between us and tried to talk him down. Then he… he…"

"…I smashed her across the field." Elfman's voice trembled with emotion. Mirajane waited for a few seconds, but it was clear he had nothing else to say.

"I went to go try and save her, but… she died in my arms. Her body dissolved into some sort of magic and floated up into the air. There was nothing we could do…and now she's gone." Mirajane's voice faded to a whisper as she finished, and then she fell to her knees in despair. Elfman stood like a statue, barely moving, barely even conscious of his surroundings. Then Natsu's fist crashed into his jaw.

"YOU COULDN'T CONTROL IT? YOU COULDN'T STOP IT? HOW COULD YOU? SHE DIED BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T STRONG ENOUGH!" Scales had begun to form around Natsu's eyes, and his tongue was slowly becoming more serpentine. Elfman just got back to his feet and looked at Natsu with dead eyes. With a roar of rage Natsu cocked his fist back to punch again, only for Makarov to block the attack with an expanded fist.

"Natsu, I know you're angry right now, but attacking Elfman right now isn't helping anything. Look at them, they are miserable. You aren't doing anything but making things worse.

"BUT SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD AND THERE ISN'T ANYTHING WE CAN DO! I JUST… I JUST…" The fire died in Natsu's eyes, replaced by a hollow look of despair. Happy flew over to his best friend, tears falling freely down his face. His wrapped his short stubby legs around the fire mage in a hug, and Natsu broke down. He barely managed to take a seat at one of the tables before he started bawling, clutching onto Happy like the cat was his only lifeline.

Elfman watched the teen for a few seconds before he turned to face Goku, whose face was a complete blank.

"He's right you know, this all happened because I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't a man, if I was a man then this would never had happened. I need to get stronger, I need to become a real man so that nothing like this ever happens ever again. Goku… you are probably one of the manliest people I know. Would you help me, could you help me get stronger?" Goku stood silently for several moments, showing no sign of response from Elfman's request. After a minute had passed Erza drilled a hard elbow into his side, snapping the fighter out of his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah sure I'd love to train with you! But I'm not sure how much free time I'm going to have, I'll be pretty busy trying to bring Lisanna back to life." Elfman stared at Goku dumbfounded, and Mirajane snapped her head up to look at the orange clad team.

"What do you mean…? Goku what do you mean you are going to be trying to bring her back? She's dead, don't you think if I could have done something I would have? DON'T YOU THINK I WOULD BRING MY SISTER BACK IF I COULD!? HOW COULD YOU JUST SAY THAT IN FRONT OF ME, HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO DO THAT?" Goku was completely unfazed by Mira's outburst; instead of responding he reached into his gi and pulled out the Four Star Dragon Ball. The Take-Over siblings looked at the object in confusion, but Erza let out a gasp of understanding.

"Goku, do you really think that they would work? You don't even know if the legend is true or not!"

"I don't know if it'll work, but I won't find out unless I try. That old fortuneteller lady seemed to believe that they would work, why would she lie about it after we won her challenge?" Mira looked back and forth between the two, too emotionally drained to snap at them for playing the pronoun game.

"What are you guys talking about? Is there really a way to bring her back?" Her voice was barely audible, but her tone was different than before. She looked at Goku and the Dragon Ball with a hungry look of longing, desperate for any sort of hope. Goku saw the look and held out the ball, passing it over to her hands.

"The Dragon Balls. My Grandpa always told me about them, he said they are some of the most powerful magical objects in existence. There are seven Dragon Balls, scattered and hidden all across the world. The legend says that anyone who can gather all of the Dragon Balls will be able to summon the Dragon God Shenron from his home in another realm." Natsu looked up at that, and in a trembling voice he asked "It can really summon a dragon? Can they summon any other dragons?"

"I don't know about the Dragon Balls summoning other dragons, but I bet Shenron could. The legend say that when Shenron is summoned he will grant the person who summoned him any wish he desires. He is supposedly so powerful, he can even bring the dead back to life." Both of the surviving Strauss siblings were staring at the Dragon Ball, looking at it as though it were the most precious object in the world. They were snapped out of their daze by a loud cough from Makarov.

"Are you sure about this Goku? I've never heard of this legend in my life, how do you even know there are any more of these Dragon Balls out there. Hope is always good to have, but false hope can be one of the devastating things there are. It can make a person linger on the past when they should move on, and it can utterly destroy them when it is proven wrong."

"Grandpa always said that barely anyone know about the Dragon Balls, if they were common knowledge then everyone would always be hunting them. I know there are other Dragon Balls out there because Mirajane already has one.

"I do?"

"Yeah, remember the old lady with the crystal ball? She gave you one of the Dragon Balls as a reward for doing so well in her fights. You still have it right?"

"I… I think so…yes. It's back in our house, on my desk. I've been using it as a paper weight."

"But it's round. Wouldn't it just roll off?"

"It stays on top of the paper well enough, but that's not the point. This will really work. We get all of these balls and we can wish Lisanna back?"

"Yep, that's the plan!"

"Goku… if this works, and you bring my sister home, then we will be in your debt for the rest of our lives. But if you are wrong, if this legend turns out to be nothing but a dead end, then I promise you that I will kill you myself for giving me this hope."

"I'll promise you, right now, that I'll do everything in my power to get all of the Dragon Balls together for you, or I'll die trying."

Goku nodded at the girl, taking the Four Star ball back from her and placing it within his gi once more. He paused for a moment to take a single calming breath before turning to face Erza.

"So… you feel like going on a Dragon Ball hunt?"

"Do you even know where you are going?"

"No clue, but that's part of the fun isn't it? It's an adventure, if we want the Dragon Balls and our wish then we have to work for it, no matter how long it takes!"

"Alright then, I was just making sure. This could very well take us years, we will have to devote all of our free time outside of missions and training into trying to find the last five Dragon Balls."

"Yeah, doesn't it sound exciting? Who knows what will happen?" Erza nodded slowly to herself before looking over out at the rest of the guild.

"It appears that Fairy Tail now has a new quest, one that might take the entire guild to complete. I can't ask those of you who aren't here, but what do all of you think? Are you willing to try and find a way to bring Lisanna back?" The guild was silent for a moment, then an eruption of flame burst forth from the crowd. Natsu stood with his entire body thrumming with power, Happy floating besides him.

"You can bet we're in! We'll hunt these Dragon Balls of yours all across the planet if we have to, Happy and I are bringing Lisanna back! Isn't that right buddy?"

"Aye sir! We'll bring her back no matter what!"

"You bet we will! Aw man I've never been this fired up in my life! Don't worry Elfman, Mirajane, we'll bring your sister back no matter what!" Elfman eyed the two for a moment before responding with a wide grin of his own.

"Not without me you're not! I'll prove myself as a man, I'll help get all of these stupid magical paper weights for sure!" The large teen clenched his fist tightly, cracking the knuckles so loudly it made Happy flinch.

Mirajane looked up at her brother for a moment before shyly looking back down at the floor.

"I don't know if I'll be any help…I haven't even been able to feel my powers since it happened. But I'll help however I can, I won't just let you do this for me without at least doing something." Goku nodded at the girl and gave her a wide grin, drawing a small smile out of the weary demoness. Then he reached out and snagged Erza, dragging her out the door before she could realize what was happening.

"FLYING NIMBUS!" With a puttering sound the cloud emerged from the sky, coming to a stop directly before the two teens. He unceremoniously tossed his scarlet haired friend up onto the cloud before jumping on himself, giving a toothy grin from ear to ear.

"Alright then everyone, we're off to start the search! See you all real soon! Bye bye!" Erza's cries of protest were quickly drowned out as the cloud shot off into the sky, flying off into the distance. So began Fairy Tail's Dragon Ball hunt, the guilds best and only hope at restoring their fallen comrade. But Goku had no idea that by starting this hunt, he set into motion events that would have dire impacts on the world as a whole. For in war, when one side of the conflict introduces a new power, the other will always try and rise to match the new challenge, creating a never ending cycle of escalation.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE MAIN SERIES FINALLY BEGINS! THAT'S ALL I REALLY NEED TO SAY! TIMESKIP TIME! WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN? THEN COME BACK FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER: LULLABY.

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And that ends what I have lovingly dubbed the Arrival Arc. Feels good to have the first of the arcs complete, makes this feel more real to me. I'm not quite sure when I'll have the next chapter out, it has been brought to my attention that I've been neglecting my other story, and I promised my readers a potentially interesting fight. For those of you that might care, the next battle on Superhuman Fight Club will be featuring end of the Saiyan Saga Goku going up against End of the Series Naruto. Anime's two biggest heroes going head to head. Eventually. As soon as I can work up the willpower to actually read the end of Naruto. Ugh…

Thanks for reading everybody, please leave a review!


	9. Lullaby

So…this chapter is a little bit late. A few of you people have asked WHY it is late, and I think I have a fairly good excuse. I had to get my appendix taken out, and then spent the following week on pain meds. Getting your appendix out freaking HURTS! I couldn't really focus on writing, I ended up spending most of my time sleeping or in Vicodin land.

Alright, so people still really, REALLY want Super Saiyan in here… So yeah. Not really sure how I'm going to make that work, but you all seem quite insistent.

Second, a quick note about the various fights throughout the series. I'm not a fan of the Nakama power induced wins (I'm looking at you Erza). I actually find them pretty annoying and repetitive for the most part. So I'm going to try and write my own version for the majority of the fights, with the exceptions of the ones that I feel that the manga just got perfectly. For example, when the Grey vs. Juvia fight comes around I might just cut away from it, because I don't think I can top the original.

Lastly, at the end of this chapter, there is going to be a special surprise bonus, courtesy of my Beta. Look forward to it.

For those that care, the Goku vs Naruto chapter is up in my other story, feel free to check that out when you are done here. I know I have a lot of DBZ and Naruto fans amongst my readers.

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**Chapter 9: Lullaby**

Erza glared across the abandoned train station, scowling at dozens of dark mages sporting the Eisenwald symbol. Above them all, the silver-haired guild master hovered around the speaker, waving the Lullaby flute tauntingly at the teens below.

This wasn't good. If Erigor started playing the flute right now, hundreds of innocent people would die.

Not on her watch. She glanced back at her companions. Gray was with her, mercifully clothed, and Natsu was looking pissed, another advantage. The new girl, Lucy, looked nervous, but ready to fight. They needed to take out Erigor and secure the flute, but if they ignored the other mages, they would get blindsided.

Erigor's voice snapped her out of her planning. "Alright boys, I'll leave you to it. I'm off to embrace my inner musician. Try and leave the girls alive, I think we can have a bit fun with them." The smirk on the assassins face made Erza's blood boil, not that she let it show. Better to channel the fury towards victory than let her foes know. As Erigor flew out the window she was forced to make a snap decision.

"Gray, Natsu, get after him. If you work together, you should be able to beat Erigor before he is able to broadcast the song. Don't even think about arguing, this is far too important. Lucy and I shall stay here and deal with the rest of the guild." She commanded, grabbing the pair and shoving them towards the window.

"WHAT? The two of us against that all of them? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Erza glanced back at the assembled mages, assessing them.

"You're right…" Lucy's sigh of relief was short lived as Erza continued.

"Only one of us should be required here. Natsu and Gray you two go and take care of Erigor, and I shall cover you to make sure that none follow. Lucy should be able to handle a collection of rogue mages like this without difficulty."

"WHAT? I'M FIGHTING ALL OF THEM BY MYSELF?" Erza shot a wide smile towards the blonde as she began moving towards the exit. Such enthusiasm was commendable, she approved.

"They're riff-raff, don't get too worked up! I don't believe it should take you very long, so make sure you catch up quickly once you're done." Erza turned back, moving towards the window. Erigor was getting away, so there was no time to waste.

Lucy stared at the mob in front of her in disbelief. She jumped when Happy flew up and landed on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Lucy, I'm here for you." The cat said, giving her a thumbs up.

Lucy smiled shakily, she wasn't exactly sure what help the cat would be, but hey, it was something right? She took a calming breath and gripped her celestial keys, she was a mage of Fairy Tail now, and Fairies never backed down from a fight.

"Alright…I'll do my best!"

"I'm afraid…your best will not be enough." A metallic grating voice, like someone had gargled a cup full of screws, spoke out. Erza abruptly brought herself to a halt, her eyes wide in disbelief.

She… she knew that voice.

She turned, catching sight of a large figure shoving his way through the crowd of Eisenwalders. He threw his cloak to the side and Erza narrowed her eyes in recognition.

"Ajax the Armor." She deadpanned. "I haven't seen you since you tried to enslave Goku and I years ago. You should not have come here, I defeated you when I was nothing more than a child, and your chances are no better now." Ajax shot the knight a toothy grin as he tossed his shirt aside to join the cloak on the floor. The muscles rippled across his battle-scarred chest as the slaver brought his hand up to a pale pink scar, Erza remembered Goku leaving on him.

"Truly a shame… that I couldn't capture you that day. Looking at you now…I might have even kept you… for my own pleasure. I suppose… I could make up…for lost time." Erza grit her teeth and closed her hand around the hilt of her blade.

On second thought, Gray and Natsu would be fine on their own for a few minutes.

"Lucy, I'm afraid I must change our plans once more. You can deal with the rest of the scum, but this one is mine." Lucy eyed the bulky man nervously; he didn't look the same as the rest of the group. Most of the other Eisenwalders either looked weird or ridiculously generic, as though random, ordinary townsfolk had decided to be evil for a day. But the big guy looked like a professional thug.

"Alright, just make sure you beat him!" Lucy stepped off to the side, separating herself from her nakama. Her hand reached down to her hip and grabbed her ring of Celestial Keys.

"Open; Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!" The sound of a bell sounded through the station as the girl created a puff of smoke, summoning a man with red skin besides her. The man adjusted his sunglasses as he looked around at his surroundings. His eyebrows rose behind the shades as he saw the large force of armed men leering maliciously at his summoner.

"Ms. Lucy…I'd say you probably didn't summon me to try a new hair style this time." The tall spirit positioned itself between the mob and the blonde girl, holding up his styling scissors defensively, the crab legs sticking out of his back clicking together aggressively. Lucy gave her spirit an appreciative smile at his protectiveness, patting him on the shoulder.

"Sorry Cancer, not this time. These guys are planning on killing a lot of people, we need to stop them." The spirit frowned, snipping his scissors at the dark mages threateningly. Killing people wasn't stylish at all. Uncultured shrimp.

Erza looked over at the crab man out of the corner of her eye, keeping her body squared towards the former slaver. "Be careful to stay out of the way of the way of my fight, I have no desire to accidently injure an ally." Cancer gave the red head a brief nod, pausing for a moment to admire her lovely hair. Maybe Ms. Lucy would let him style that some time… then he was rushing forwards, scissors flashing as he sliced his opponents' weapons apart like butter. Erza tuned out the battle raging beside her, sinking into a fighting stance and pointing her blade towards Ajax. The assassin gave her a toothy grin in return and summoned his armor. The liquid metal oozed out of his body, coating him completely.

"Tell me girl…where is your little monkey friend? I'd so like to see him…and let him taste my blades once more. Maybe this time… I'd get even closer with my cuts. We could see… whether he is humanlike on the inside. See if his blood…and his guts…are like ours." Erza's composed face broke into a smirk.

"I think Goku would probably like to see you again as well, he would enjoy the opportunity to show you just how much he has improved. Unfortunately, he went off on his own about two months ago, we have yet to hear anything about his whereabouts. So I'm afraid you'll have to settle for me."

"Shame…I'd like to see…his face…as I made him…**watch me** **break you!"** With a snarl Ajax surged forwards, spawning massive spikes all along his body. Erza thrust her hand forward at the man, sending forth a burst of magic to blast away her armor like their previous encounter. Her eyes widened in surprise when Ajax plowed through the attack unaffected. She whipped her blade into a parry, trying to block, but the metal monster slammed into her like a freight train, forcing her backwards and ripping the sword out of her hand.

"Last time we met... I let my guard down… I have upgraded myself since then… This time…you will find my armor…far harder to pierce!" Ajax shifted his arm into a massive claymore and lashed out, forcing Erza to dive sideways. She rolled back to her feet, summoning another blade as she dove forwards and drove it into her opponent's gut. Instead of puncturing through the armor though, the metallic skin of the assassin shifted. The liquid metal wrapped around and latched onto the sword, sticking it in place. Erza tried to yank it free, but was forced to let go of it when he stabbed at her.

Ajax grinned as he pulled Erza's weapon out of its metal coating, examining it carefully as he marched towards her. Erza merely held out her hand and summoned a large spear into her grasp, holding it defensively before her. Ajax tapped the weapon in his hand and gestured towards Erza's.

"And what…are you planning to do…with that?" Ajax was bemused, his abilities had upgraded since his days as a slaver. He had abandoned the petty human trafficking business and devoted himself to seeking out powerful enemies to fight. Adapting his skills to protect him and destroy any kind of magical weapon or physical fighter. Close range fighters were virtually useless against him now. Anyone who got too close to him would end up impaled far before they managed to do any real damage.

Erza eyed her opponent critically, her mind going over how his armor had reacted when she'd tried to stab him… Her sword had penetrated, but not far enough. She could feel a plan forming; she just had to test it.

With a roar the red head rushed in, throwing Ajax off balance as she charged him. The first blow knocked her sword out of his hands, sending it flying up into the air. Then she whipped her spear forwards, using its length to keep her out of his range as she stabbed at him over and over, always making sure to pull it back before it became trapped. The metal skin on the ex-slaver rippled like water as it moved to block all of the attacks, trying to latch on to the bladed edge of the spear.

Erza caught a glint of metal out of her peripherals and stabbed forward with her full strength, this time leaving the weapon for Ajax to seize. Before he could react she had snatched her sword out of the air from its descent. Erza immediately slashed the blade towards her opponent, catching him full on in the murderer's face. Ajax' head whipped to the side, causing him to stagger sideways as Erza used the handle of her spear to kick off of the monster and flip backwards, out of his reach.

Ajax shook his head to clear it and looked down at the weapon he had caught in his chest for moment, then he casually brought his hand up and grasped it. With deliberate slowness he brought the weapon up to eye level and snapped the spear in half, tossing the pieces to either side. Erza quirked an eyebrow at him, a smile now breaking through her rigid composure. Ajax took her amusement as defiance and sneered at the knight.

"Do you really think…you have accomplished anything? All that effort…and you couldn't even pierce my armor." Erza grinned in response.

"Are you so certain?" she brought the sword upwards and showed him the tip.

A single ruby droplet of blood clung to the blade.

Ajax eyes widened. Then he snorted. "Do you really think … that will be enough... to defeat me?"

"No, but piercing your armor wasn't my goal. I was merely testing to see how well it could hold up to a variety of blows. Now that I've seen, we can get serious. REQUIP!" Erza vanished in a flash of golden light, reappearing in a silvery set of armor. Four massive bladed wings sprouted off from her back, and she grasped a pair of matching longswords in her hands.

"Heaven's Wheel Armor."

Ajax ignored the blades, instead taking in her exposed midriff, the small armored chest piece, and the metal skirt. Looking back up at his opponents face with a grin, he had only one thing to say.

"…Nice rack."

Erza's shriek of indignation was punctuated by the summoning of over three dozen glowing swords around her, whirling around her body violently.

"You shall NOT mock me! CIRCLE SWORD!" The swords lashed out like a buzz saw, cutting into Ajax's metallic skin. The liquid metal was suddenly tasked to capacity, rapidly shifting in every direction to fend off the attack. Ajax tried to stumble backwards out of range but Erza was faster, quickly closing the distance between them. The ferocity of the blades increased, leaving the metal looking more like a defensive network of tentacles instead of an actual armor. Finally Erza reached her opponent, the blades in her hand ready to strike. Ajax saw her coming and tried to get clear, but he was too slow.

A bloody X shaped gash sent the mage tumbling to the ground, unconscious before his head even hit the floor. Erza shook the blood from her swords and then requip back into her standard armor. She spared a brief moment to scowl down at the man, then turned to see how Lucy was doing.

The blonde was surrounded by a pile of unconscious bald men, with broken metal littering the ground in every direction. Another dozen or so men still stood on guard, magic humming around them as they fired off a series of projectile attacks. Cancer had vanished in a burst of starlight, and instead a giant Minotaur appeared bringing an enormous axe to bear and blocking the attacks.

"Ms. Lucy's body is so hot, it really gets me moooooving! How dare you try and ruin such a perfect figure!" Lucy groaned into her hand and tried to adjust her cloths so they showed off less of her body.

"Every time, I swear, every single time. Hey Taurus! Those guys were insulting my body. They said I was only a ten out of ten."

"WHAT! MS. LUCY'S BODY BREAKS THE SCALE!" the bull man roared, charging down the remaining mages.

The last group of Eisenwald mages responded en mass, combining all their spells into one massive blast. Tauros charged straight at the energy ball, twirling his ax around in his hands. He shifted his grip, holding onto the giant weapon like a baseball bat and swung the massive blade to crash into the attack. The collision sent the bull man stumbling back a few step, but launched the blast right back at the mages. None of the remaining Eisenwald members had any time to react at all before the ball detonated amongst them, sending shrapnel in every direction. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a groaning pile of unconscious dark mages.

Erza gave an appreciative nod towards the younger girl. Lucy grinned back, but then stumbled, slowly sinking to her knees.

"Sorry, I used a bit too much magic. Give me a minute, I'll be fine."

"Don't worry, take your time. I'm going to go and try and clear out all civilians in the area. We have no idea where Erigor is right now, so we need to make sure that as many people as possible are out of range of Lullaby." With that Erza dashed off, leaving Lucy and Happy together in the ruined room. Happy looked at the summoner quizzically.

"Are you alright Lucy? That was really cool how you took out all of those mages."

"Yeah I'll be fine… why didn't you help me? One of those guys almost got me."

"I said I was here for you, I didn't say I'd actually fight." The cat responded smiling warmly.

Lucy glared at him, but didn't have the energy to stay mad. She sighed. "So… how did I do? You think I impressed her?" She asked hopefully.

Aye! You took out that whole group of mages on all at once and you won! She's probably impressed, but she's too busy with Lullaby to say so."

"I'm glad. I really want to make a good impression... Do you think we'll be able to stop Lullaby?" Lucy forced herself back up onto her feet, and Happy sprouted his wings and flew up to help steady her.

"Aye."

"Really?"

"Aye. Erza and the others are really strong; we'll stop Erigor for sure! Unless he runs away or something."

Lucy opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by when a sudden rumbling shook the entire building. Happy latched onto Lucy in fear, digging his claws into her face causing the blonde girl to yelp. At that moment Erza rushed back into the room, cradling her arm with panic on her face.

"Erigor ran away! He put up some sort of magical wind barrier over the entire building, trapping us here! Quickly, we must see if we can get any sort of information out of these mages. Help me tie them all up, and then I'll interrogate them!" Lucy nodded quickly and joined the red headed knight in securing all of their prisoners, lashing them together in groups of four or five in bands of thick cord Erza had pulled from her magic space. The mages put up little resistance, being either too fried or too bald to put up much of a fight. Soon Erza had managed to pinpoint one of the main people in charge and had him pinned up against the ground with a sword at his neck.

"Where did your boss go? Where is he planning on using the Lullaby?" The mage grit his teeth and remained stubbornly silent, refusing to let Erza intimidate him. He grunted as Erza slammed his head into the ground, squeezed his eyes shut tight so he couldn't see the look of malice on her face. He couldn't afford to break, not now. Not when they were all so close to their revenge!

"ERZA!" The man cracked his eyes open and looked up. Another one of the Fairy Tail mages had returned, the dark haired male. The teen's eyes were bloodshot, and his hands were shaking with rage.

"Gray, what are you doing back here? Where is Natsu? I thought I told you two to go together!"

"We split up to try and cover more ground so we could find him faster. But never mind that. Eisenwald never intended this station as a target, it was all just a distraction to trap us here! Their real target is Clover! Erigor is going to play the Lullaby at the guild master meeting! He's going to try and kill every one of them, even Gramps!" The Eisenwald mage allowed himself the smallest of smirks when he saw the look of fear that jolted the swords mistress, then she turned back towards him.

Suddenly the situation didn't seem so funny.

Erza's body was literally crackling with a bright red aura, with sparks of magic flying off of her. The expression on her face made her look as though she had been possessed by a demon for the absolute worst pit of hell. She latched onto the mage and started throttling him

"You should have told me all of that! How dare you try and keep information that valuable hidden!" Gray jumped down from the upper balcony and made his way over to the girl, gently pulling her away from the now bloody and bruised man.

"Come on Erza, keep it together, we need to figure out how to stop this. What are we going to do?" Erza continued glaring down at the prone mage for several seconds before she turned to look the ice mage directly in the eye.

"We are trapped, and as long as we are trapped, Erigor is going to cast the Lullaby and kill off all of those people. We need to find a way out, right now. We are the only ones who are even aware of the danger, unless we can get free, there isn't anybody else around to get this done. Come, I remember the Eisenwald members mentioning something about a powerful dispeller under their employ. Since he isn't here now, that means he has likely gone after Natsu. We need to go find him, he might be able to dispel the barrier and allow us to escape!" Gray nodded and quickly turned towards the stairs, motioning for the rest of the group to follow him.

"All right then, let's go!"

The Eisenwald mage that Erza had dropped forced himself to sit up as the Fairies moved off. So they were after Kage were they? That wasn't good, he could absolutely dispel the Wind Wall… unless he removed from the equation.

"Karacka."

The stone wall rippled and a mage stuck his head through. "Y-yeah?"

"I knew you had hidden. You heard what those flies said?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know what you need to do."

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Erigor was laughing like a mad man as he flew along the tracks leading to Clover. It had taken awhile, but the energy he had used trapping the Fairies had returned. Now at the speed he was going, it would only be a matter of minutes before he arrived, and then every last one of those arrogant guild masters would die.

"That's right you miserable Fairy Tale flies! I win! Not even your famous Erza Scarlet was able to stop me! None of those little flies can stop me! HAHAHAHAHA!" he shouted, exuberant in his success, as he flew over a canyon spanned by a set of train tracks.

WHAM!

Erigor slammed into something, bringing his flight to a sudden halt as he rebounded off and retreated back a few yards away, balancing on the blade of his scythe.

"Hey, you should watch where you're going! You're not the only one flying around, you know."

"What the hell?" Erigor blinked, utterly bemused. There was another man, clearly a mage flying up here. Erigor looked him over. Loose-fitting orange outfit, black spiky hair, and standing on …was that a cloud?

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Son Goku. I'm a member of the Fairy Tail guild."

Erigor snorted. "You're just another pitiful Fairy. You never be able to stop me."

Goku blinked. He couldn't help but feel he was missing some context here. "Stop you from doing what?"

"Killing all of the guild masters, you little fool."

"Kill the guild masters?"

"Oh yes, with the Lullaby flute in my possession, I shall play the death song and kill every single person who hears it!" Erigor waved the flute tauntingly, showing the little fool how truly doomed he was.

"You can play a flute?"

"…what?"

"Well you said you're going to play the death song. That means you know how to play the flute right?"

"That… that's not the point!"

"But it's a flute right? That probably means you have to play it for it to work properly. I mean, if all you had to do is blow into it, why not just make it a whistle?"

"I'm going to kill you now, little fly."Erigor summoned his magic before him, creating purple seal in the air.

"WIND BLADES!" Goku spun the Power Pole out in front of him, deflecting the blasts of air away from him. Erigor snarled and charged in, swinging his scythe full circle in a beheading strike. Goku knocked the blade off to the side and head-butted the scythe wielder, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Look, I know scythes look really cool. But in all honesty, I don't think they're a great choice for combat. They're just too easy to dodge."

"Disappear little fly: STORM BRINGER!" A slight breeze was all the warning Goku had before an enormous tornado ripped him off of nimbus. Goku was thrown through the sky, where he caught a glimpse of the winds ripping Nimbus to shreds. Then the tornado spat him out of the top, sending him tumbling to the ground far below. Erigor watched him disappear into the darkness of the pit below with a smile.

"Ha! Yet another fly dies in the web." Erigor spun himself around, twirling Lullaby around his fingers. He was gathering his magic to shoot himself towards Clover, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly whipped his head back, barely avoiding an incoming punch from Goku as he flew out of the trench.

Goku, twisted himself in midair, landing on the bridge spanning the chasm. Erigor lowered himself to land across from the orange clad fairy.

"Why aren't you a bloody spot on the bottom of that pit little fly?" Erigor spat, glaring at the mage.

"I used the Power Pole to launch myself back up. But why did you have to blow up Nimbus? It'll be hours before he reforms, now I'm going to have to walk all the way back home!"

"Obnoxious fly! STORM MAIL!" Goku was pushed backwards a few feet as a whirlwind suddenly formed around the assassin, blowing everything away around him. Goku brought up an arm to try and shield himself from the wind and secured his grip on his staff with the other. With a laugh Erigor swung his arm, sending out a barrage of wind blades straight at the fighter. Goku yelped as one of the sliced through his sleeve and quickly began maneuvering the Power Pole around to deflect the rest. The second there was a lull he charged, rushing straight at the assassin. Erigor smirked, allowing his wind armor to knock the teen back, sending him flying across the bridge and the staff tumbling out of his grasp.

Before Goku could react, Erigor flew in and snatched the staff.

"Let's see how well you do against me without your fancy stick!" With that Erigor tossed the staff into the air, followed by a massive burst of air that sent it sailing off into the horizon. Goku watched in horror as one of his Grandpa's only possessions vanished from sight, and then his eyes narrowed and his lips pulled back into a snarl. It was official.

He was angry.

"I'm going to make you pay for that!"

Erigor chuckled, shaking his head "Little fly…you won't live to even be able to try. EMERA BARAM!" A massive blast of wind burst across the bridge, slamming into Goku head on. Erigor smirked to himself as he allowed his armor to drop, staring into the dust cloud to trying to determine just how much of his opponent's corpse was left.

"RRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Erigor didn't even see the movement, one second he was searching for his opponent's body, the next moment he had a fist buried in his chest. The assassin coughed blood, doubling over as he struggled to regain his breath. Goku brought his leg up and slammed his heel down on the injured man, smashing his head into the bridge and knocking him out cold.

Goku waited for several moments for any sign that his opponent was still conscious or a threat. Seeing none he gingerly reaching into the man's pocket and pulled out the flute. With a grimace he stashed the dark magical item in his belt and began walking down the tracks away from Clover.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Erza struggled to keep her eyes open as the magic mobile made its way down the train tracks after Erigor. She was channeling in far more magic than what would be considered safe, she was pushing the vehicle to its absolute limit. Even so, she knew that she wouldn't be able to catch up to Erigor in time. The only chance they had now was that Natsu and Happy had managed to find the assassin and were slowing him down long enough for the rest of the team to catch up.

Erza's eyes drooped for a moment, barely keeping them open. Then they closed just for a moment. The next thing she knew, the entire car shook as it hit something. The red head quickly slammed on the brakes and brought the vehicle up to a stop. Behind her Gray hopped out of the car and let out a loud moan.

"Damn it hot head, what the hell are you doing here? Don't tell me Erigor beat you that fast!" With growing dread Erza forced herself to stand and climb out of the car, with Lucy quickly following. Erza held up a hand to hold the girl back.

"Keep an eye on Kage, we don't need him getting loose while we are distracted." Lucy nodded and hung back a bit. She glanced back inside the carriage and saw Kage was still unconscious, and then began looking around the area.

Natsu lay on the ground out cold, with Happy sitting nervously beside him. Gray let out a small burst of frost and fired it straight at Natsu's face. The boy woke up with a jolt, lighting his fists aflame and looking around wildly.

"What the heck happened? What hit me?" Erza glared at Natsu with dead eyes, scaring the anger right out of him.

"That is what we are trying to ask you Natsu. What happened to Erigor?"

"Uh…well…we never really caught up to him. One minute we are flying through the air full speed after the creep, the next second some red thing comes flying out of the air and hits me dead in the face. Happy drops me, and the next thing I know the stripper is blasting me in the face!" Erza continued to glare at the fire dragon slayer, making him shrink back.

"Natsu, is this what hit you?" The rest of the group looked over to see the blonde holding a red staff. Natsu's eyes lit up with anger, but Gray held him back, a look of disbelief on his face. The look was mirrored on Erza's face as she walked over and took the pole away from Lucy.

"I've been hit with that enough times to recognize it. This is Goku's power pole. What is it doing all the way out here?"

"You don't think he ran into Erigor do you? Maybe he was flying that stupid cloud of his, and they ran into each other." Erza looked over at Gray, her face taking on a nervous expression.

"Goku probably wouldn't even know who Erigor is. He probably got attacked, there is absolutely no way he would ever let something happen to this staff, it belonged to his Grandfather. Quickly, everyone into the car, we need to find him!"

The Fairy Tale mages all clambered into the car and Erza hooked herself back up to the engine and the group shot off, moving even faster than before despite the added weight. They drove in silence for several tense minutes, with a million thoughts running through Erza's head. Erigor was a powerful mage, he might well have been strong enough to defeat Goku if he caught him off guard. He would never have separated from the staff if he could help it, so that could only lead her to believe that something had happened to him. Could she handle losing someone close to her again? It had been years since she had even considered anything like that, since she had thought about losing her friends. Over time the thoughts of what had happened at the tower, while not fading, had gradually numbed, they no longer hurt her the same as they had in the past. But now it was all rushing back, all of the fear that had plagued her for so long.

"LOOK, UP AHEAD!" Erza snapped herself out of her inner thoughts and looked up. Ahead of them, a single figure was walking down the tracks towards them, dragging something behind him. Erza brought the car to a stop and the Fairies clambered out, rushing out to join him. Goku gave them a cheery wave, tossing Erigor to the side from where he had been dragging the assassin. The martial artist looked a bit worse for wear, his clothing had been torn to shreds and there were several bloody gashes across his chest and face. Erza marched out to the front of the group, using every ounce of her self-control to keep her body from betraying the weakness she was feeling. Goku walked up beside her with a happy smile that was met with a metal gauntlet to the face.

Idiot! Don't make us worry like that! What are you even doing here anyways, how did you end up fighting Erigor?" Goku rubbed his cheek a bit and grinned.

"Well, I was flying back to the guild, and I overheard this guy shouting about something, then he crashed into me, then he started bragging about how he was gonna kill master. We ended up fighting, and I won. What happened to you guys?"

"He trapped us inside of a giant wind prison, then he had one of his men try to assassinate his own guild's only spell breaker in an attempt to keep us contained there. Our newest member Lucy is a celestial mage, and she was able to summon a spirit that dug us a tunnel underneath the trap." Goku turned to face Lucy who gave a nervous wave. Goku walked over and shook her hand, the same smile still on his face.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Goku! Glad to have some more friends around!"

"Umm, thanks. It's nice to meet you too. Oh! Here, we found this a few miles back, Gray said it belongs to you." Goku's eyes lit up when she held out the wooden pole.

"Cool, my Power Pole! I was worried that I would have to be fishing around down in that canyon for weeks before I managed to find it!" Natsu scoffed, gingerly rubbing the rather large bump on his head.

"The stupid thing found me instead. It beamed off my head as I was chasing after Erigor and knocked me out!" Gray started chucking to himself at Natsu's temper.

"So, basically the same thing as usual, right flame brain?"

"What did you say you popsicle head? Do you want to go?"

"Bring it you blazing turd!" Erza groaned into her hand as the two butted heads, and then she exploded.

"Listen up you idiots, I said that you two aren't supposed to be fighting while we are on this mission and I meant it!"

"AYE! Yes ma'am, we are very sorry!" The two had linked arms and were doing their very best imitation of Happy, making Lucy snigger. Goku put the Power Pole back into its sheath as he laughed at his friends antics. With order mostly restored, Erza turned to look at the prone form of the Eisenwald leader.

"Now then, the only thing we have left to worry about is the Lullaby flute."

"Oh, you mean this thing?" Goku pulled the demonic looking flute and held it up for the rest of the team to see. "He was bragging about it, so I thought I should probably take it away from him. I don't want him waking up and trying to kill anyone with it. I feel some really dark energy coming off of it, it's really dangerous."

"Good, nice work Goku. I believe our next step should be continuing on to Clover, we can ask the guild masters there how we should dispose of this thing." Goku nodded and tossed the flute over towards Erza. She reached out to catch it, but out of nowhere a shadowy hand flew in and intercepted it. Kage blew past the group in the magical car, waving the flute at the surprised mages.

"Too bad Fairy Tail flies, you shouldn't have left your guard down! Now the Lullaby is mine, and all of the guild masters are doomed! HAHAHA!" The group stood there in stunned sentence for a moment, unable to compute what had just happened. Finally, Goku broke the silence.

"Dang it Erza, why weren't you paying attention?"

"SHUT UP!"

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The gang arrived at Clover about an hour later, panting and out of breath. They had found the magical car just past the other side of the canyon, Kage's injuries likely took too much of a toll on his body for the car to be used for any extended period of time. They caught up to him outside of the guild master's conference hall. Being stared down by Makarov.

"… You can find power in something besides that pitiful flute you know." They blinked in surprise to see the flute slide from Kage's fingers.

"You're right." Kage mumbled looking to the ground in shame. Killing all these old men? What had he even been hoping to accomplish?

Makarov turned, catching sight of them. He beamed at them, waving them over. Then he raised an eyebrow in surprise at the appearance of Goku.

"What are you doing here lad, I thought you were out looking for clues for that Dragon Ball for the Strauss'?"

"Oh I was, I kind of just got caught up in all of this at the end. I know where the Dragon Ball is now, I was actually on my way back to the guild, I have a promise to keep."

"Ah yes, your agreement with Elfman. So, after you have taken care of that, can I assume you will be returning to Fairy Tail for a while? I just want to make sure the chefs have enough food this time, they threatened to quit if you showed up unexpectedly again, you know."

"Yeah I'll be coming back. I'll stick around until I get a lead on another one, it will give me a chance to say hi to everybody."

"…And?"

"And I promise not to pressure the chefs to the point of a nervous breakdown… again."

"Good, good. Now, where did that flute go? I think it's time that we figure out how to best destroy it." Goku glanced around until he spotted the dark instrument lying on the ground some distance away. As he made his way over to retrieve it, he noticed the eyes of the flute start to glow.

"Uh-oh."

A demonic scream erupted from the flute, and a massive shockwave of energy sent everyone flying away. Goku was blasted backwards and smashed through several trees, leaving him with his head ringing. Erza sprinted over and helped him to his feet, despite still being shaky herself. They were joined by Gray and Natsu as all four turned to face the new threat. Above them, a massive three story tall demonic figure glared down at them.

_**"FINALLY! AT LONG LAST I AM FREE! NOW, I CAN DEVOUR ALL OF YOUR DELECTIBLE SOULS!"**_

All around them the guild masters backed away in fear, the dark energy of the monster was rolling off of it in massive waves. It distorted the very air around it, giving everything a purplish hue. As the people panicked, Natsu turned to face Goku.

"So… do you think souls are really that delicious?"

"I bet they taste like fish." Happy said.

"I don't know… I think that Lullaby might have weird tastes. I mean, look at it. Its tongue is made of wood. They'd probably taste bad to us. What do you think Happy?"

"Aye!"

"Yeah you're right. Probably for the best, Erza would get mad at us if we started eating people's souls."

Lucy just stared at the three in disbelief.

"Hey guys, not that this isn't very interesting but do you think you could put this conversation on hold for, like, 5 minutes and maybe BEAT UP THE GIANT MONSTER FLUTE ABOUT TO SUCK OUT OUR SOULS!?"

The three fairies looked at her, blinking in surprise at her outburst. They turned their heads to look at Lullaby.

Lullaby turned away from them, and sent out a beam of magical energy, destroying a nearby mountaintop and sending a division of the Fiore army scattering.

"Right, we should probably do something about that." Natsu mused.

He crouched and shot forward like a rocket, blasting plumes of fire out of his feet to boost his speed. He dodged a swipe from the massive wooden monster and got right up close to it.

"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" The massive fire attack knocked the demon backwards a few steps, right into Gray's line of fire.

"ICE MAKE: SPEARS!" Over a dozen giant icy projectiles flew through the air, punching through the creature. Erza followed next, changing into the Blackwing armor and cleaving a giant gash right through the beast.

_**"NO, DAMN YOU! YOU DARE TO STRIKE ME? I'LL DRAIN THE SOULS OF EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU OBNOXIOUS MAGES, AND THERE ISN'T A SINGLE THING THAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!"**_

The Lullaby suddenly let loose a giant burst of magic, draining the life from all of the grass, trees, and bushes in the area, withering them to ash. Then the magic condensed, forming together all around the flute monster. With the magic summoned, it brought it all together to play its song. It struck a pose and closed its eyes, letting air rush through its body.

A terrible shrieking wheeze came from the demon. Everyone waited for something to happen.

"…Aren't we supposed to be dead?" Natsu asked, scratching his head in confusion.

The Lullaby blinked for a moment, then quickly tried again.

Again the slight wheeze went off. But nothing else happened.

_**"WHAT… WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?"**_ From where she was hiding with the guild masters, Lucy suddenly perked up.

"I get it! Lullaby is a flute, and a wooden one at that! It needs to be in a certain shape and condition to play its music, and since it got so many holes punched through it, it can't play any music!" Natsu looked up at the damaged monster and muttered to himself.

"So all that build up and worrying about this stupid thing, and all we had to do was just smack it a few times and it becomes completely useless? What a letdown!"

_**"LET DOWN?! YOU BASTARD, I'LL SHOW YOU!" **_The creature fired off a massive fiery blast straight down towards the group. Natsu smirked, jumped directly in front of it, and inhaled. The entire attack disappeared down the dragon slayer's throat, leaving the giant demon gaping.

"Hey Goku, back me up!" The woozy martial artist nodded, bending his knees and cupping his hands behind him.

"KA…ME…"

"FIRE DRAGON…"

"HA… ME…"

"ROAR!"

"HAAAAAAAAA!"

Twin jets of energy, one blue and one red, blasted through the air and slammed into the giant musical monstrosity. The flute had time to let out one last wheeze before the blast hit, tearing through its entire being and ripping it apart. When the smoke cleared, the being had been completely vaporized. The haze in the air faded, turning everything back to their normal colors. Everyone now had a perfect view of the massive crater sitting where the guild master meeting hall had once been. Makarov fainted.

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Hello, I'm Sturm and Drang, the Beta.

I contribute to this story.

What follows is am Omake, a short one-shot of sorts that will fill in certain parts of the story that are lost in the background by the time-skips. They may be silly little jokes, or serious-toned character developments.

This is going to be a story focusing on Goku and Levy training, because he promised, and I want to pin down exactly what Levy's magic can and cannot do.

**Train the Brain!**

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_About a week after the Baba incident_

"Alright Levy! Are you ready to start your training?" Goku asked, beaming at the word mage. He was carrying a huge backpack stuffed with food and gear in preparation for the training session.

"Umm… I think so." Levy smiled back nervously looking around at the training grounds Goku had brought them to. Her eyes kept drifting over towards to several boulders covered in cracks and suspiciously fist-sized holes. She adjusted her much smaller pack.

"Great! Here are a couple of twenty pound weights!"

"…Wha?"

"Come on! Don't be shy! Strap them too your legs and start running!"

"Um… Goku? I don't think you understand how my magic works."

"What do you mean?"

"Goku, my magic doesn't actually depend on my physical strength. It doesn't matter how vigorously I write a word, it still says the same thing."

"…"

"Why don't I explain it in a little more detail?"

"Okay." Goku sat down, watching as his friend pulled out a light-pen.

"As you know, my Solid Script magic makes my words a reality. There are three ways I can use this. First, there is creation class word magic, meaning that the words I write take on the property of their meaning. For example, if I write the word 'fire'." Her pen blurred, writing out the word. It floated in the air, the letters flickering in the wind.

Goku eyed it critically, and then stuck his hand in it.

"Yep. It's fire."

"Goku!" Levy erased the word as quickly as she could and grabbed his hand. Examining it... "You're… not burned."

"Nope, regular fire isn't enough to hurt me." He grinned.

"You… do understand that's not normal. Right?"

"Yeah sure." Goku waved off the thought, "I get that part of your magic, what is the other two ways?"

"You mean _what are _the other ways." Levy corrected.

"What you said."

"Okay, the second use is enchantment type words. If I write certain kinds of words, they exert their meaning on their surroundings. For example:" She flicked her pen and another word appeared.

Goku squinted at it. "Dis-tract-ing." He read.

"Yes. This allows me to induce certain effects on my… Goku are you listening to me?"

"Huh?"

"I said are you listening to me?"

"What?" Goku asked absentmindedly, his eyes still focused on the word hovering tantalizingly, just overhead. Levy rolled her eyes.

"I suppose I should have seen this one coming." She muttered as she erased the word. Goku blinked and his eyes shot back towards her.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Never mind." She sighed, "Anyway the last way I can use my magic is through personal enchantment words. If I write a word on someone, I can influence them."

"Really?" Goku jumped to his feet excitedly, "That sounds like fun! Write something on me." He shoved his hand towards her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Okay." She gripped his hand and wrote something. Goku stood still, arm extended and beaming at her expectantly. Then his hand plummeted downwards, slamming him into the ground.

"What did you write on me?" He asked, Grunting as he forcibly pulled his hand out of the hole it had made in the tightly packed ground.

"I wrote 'Heavy' so it made your arm heavy. Writing a word on someone else applies the words effects to him or her. It also applies it to them in their terms. Meaning that the spell is acting by your definition of heavy, which is probably a lot heavier then mine."

"That's cool." He grunted. Gritting his teeth as he held his hand above the ground. Suddenly the weight on his arm disappeared, toppling him backwards onto his back. "What happened?"

"Sorry, the magic in the word wore off. The power and duration of the words I write are entirely based on the amount of magical power I put into them. Normally the amount of magic I put into that word would keep it active for about half an hour. But it had to generate much more weight to actually affect you so it burned through the magic much quicker. I kind of expected that really, with your strength you'd be hard to influence like that."

Goku nodded to himself, so it was kind of like placing a curse on someone. "So can you hurt people with this? What if you wrote the word 'pain' on somebody."

"No!" Levy shouted, looking horrified at the very idea. "That's a dark type of magic. Goku. There is a variety of my kind of magic that can do that. But it is demonic in origin. My Solid Script is literally incapable of that."

"How so?" Goku asked, cocking his head to the side. "I mean, I can't see you writing 'pain' on somebody, you're really nice. But why wouldn't it work?"

"When I write a word on somebody, my magic interacts with their own. If I were to write a truly harmful word such as pain or death on somebody, it triggers their survival instincts, which takes form in a burst of magic that instantly negates the effects. My magic isn't aggressive enough to counteract that. Whereas, the word magic known as Dark Ecriture actively circumnavigates this and can inflict pain or kill. The closest my Solid Script could get is making somebody really itchy."

"Okay." Goku nodded to show he understood. She was the expert after all. "That still seems to be a pretty strong ability though. You can write anything you want on people, provided it doesn't hurt them?"

"Well yeah. But there is a problem, I have to be close by to write it on them. I'm not good at hand-to-hand combat, so it's dangerous. Also, if someone has much stronger magic then me, they can just break through the spell."

"Oh, so it is weak."

"No! It is not weak! It has a ton of uses." Levy protested.

"I get that. But you just told me that you aren't good at fighting. You're more of a support mage or something." Goku reasoned, completely oblivious to Levy's growing pout.

"You know Goku. There's more to being a mage then just beating up your opponent. Not all missions require you to hit something hard."

"You say that, but I haven't met a mission I couldn't solve that way."

Levy frowned at him. Goku frowned back, why did she look upset? So she wasn't a great fighter, that wasn't too big of a deal. Suddenly Levy smiled.

"Goku. Would you like to play a game?"

Goku brightened. Now they were talking. He wasn't sure why she suddenly wanted to play a game. But hey, it was probably going to be fun. Levi reached into her pack and pulled out a few things.

"Okay Goku, here are the rules. I'm going to have this necklace on." She held up a Piece of yarn with a shiny pebble on the end of it. "I'm going to start this timer for five minutes, that should be plenty of time." She held up the timer to emphasize. "Once the time starts, what you need to do is take the necklace from me. If you have it when time runs out, you win. If you don't, I win. That's all there is to it."

"There are no other rules?"

"Nope. Anything goes."

"But, no offense, if I hit you, I could seriously hurt you.

"Humor me." Levi walked to the other side of the training ground. She carefully wound the timer and placed it on the ground. She turned to Goku and smiled brightly. "Ready. Set. Go!"

Goku stretched, grinning at his friend. Before rushing at her. Right before he was able to grab her, Levy disappeared, causing him to slam face-first into a tree. He shook it off and turned back towards her. She was standing calmly where he had started.

She waved, bouncing on the balls of her feet and smiling.

Goku moved towards her again, going more cautiously this time. But once more she managed to elude him. She just moved too fast! He paused, watching her as she ran back to other side of the clearing. Something wasn't right. He'd seen Levy run in the Fairy Tail foot race a few days ago, she had almost come in last.

She just smiled and held up her hand, he could just make out the word 'fast' written on her palm.

"I don't have to write things on other people you know."

He smiled. Maybe this was going to be a challenge. He charged at her again, seriously this time. If he focused, he was sure he could see her movement, and adjust to catch her. If he got a hand on her there would no way she could escape-

He gasped as he felt his foot catch on something. Causing him to trip and slam his face into the ground.

Goku got back up to the sound of Levy's giggles. He looked at his feet and saw the word 'trip' inscribed in the ground. He turned back towards the word mage who tried and failed to look innocent.

"You might want to watch where you step. Who knows what you might step on?"

"I'll keep that in mind." Goku smiled. He glanced at the ground; he could just make out a few spots of ground that looked oddly disturbed. Levy must have taken advantage of when he had slammed into that tree…still, no problem.

He crouched and launched himself through the air. Levy's hand blurred and he could just make out the word 'iron' rising in front of him. He spun himself around and slammed his leg into the word, shattering the barrier and sending letters flying everywhere.

But the force of the blow had stopped his momentum, he landed just short of Levy, who darted forward and flashed her pen across his clothes.

He looked down and glimpsed a word he hadn't seen before. "Mag-net?" he guessed. Looking at Levy in question. She nodded approvingly and pointed behind him. He glanced back and saw the pieces of the word he had destroyed moving towards him, he leapt into the air. But the pieces followed him! They slammed into him in midair and sent him back to the ground.

He picked himself off the ground with a grumble, pulling off pieces of shattered letters only to come flying back when he threw them away.

Ignoring the chunks of alphabet clinging to him, he turned back to his opponent. She was on the opposite side of the clearing, once again. She waved back, a bead of sweat dripping off her face.

He narrowed his eyes at her, his instincts were telling him to go after her and catch her as quickly as possible but… something about the way she was smiling at him was holding him back. Her pen was waving tauntingly through the air. There was no telling what might come out of it next.

He needed a plan; he cast his eyes around the training ground. There was nothing helpful in sight. If he just charged in she'd just give him another spelling lesson. He had to throw her off from a distance so… Oh!

He pulled the power pole, and pointed it at her. His smile grew as Levy's shrunk. "Power Pole extend!" The magic staff shot off towards the little word mage, who ducked. Goku grinned, with a mental command he retracted the pole and shot it off again. Levy managed to dodge again, and again. But he could see her getting tired.

This was great! He could strategy too!

Levy's pen flashed, writing out the word 'smokescreen'. Goku smirked as a cloud of inky blackness burst into existence. He swept the pole sideways, across the ground. He felt the pole hit something and smirked as he heard Levy yelp. He withdrew the staff and used it to pole-vault over any word traps left on the ground.

"Gotcha now!" He yelled as he fell into the smoke cloud, right where he'd heard the yelp. Then felt himself collide with something distinctly not Levy-shaped. Whatever it was collapsed under his weight and shot back upwards, throwing him back out of the dissipating smoke.

He landed on his feet and looked back. Levy was peeking out from behind another of her words. He squinted at the word.

"Boon-key?"

"Bouncy." Levi corrected, panting with fatigue. "Good try though. You almost had me that time, but you always just charge in, so it's easy to guess where you're coming from."

"You're looking tired." He replied, watching her wipe some sweat from her forehead.

"Maybe, but guess what?"

"What?"

**DING-DING**

"You're out of time."

Goku's spun to face the clock, there was no denying what she had said as the words 'time's up!' flashed above the device.

No way. He'd lost!

"Aw man! I don't believe it." He felt a puff and the scraps of iron sticking to him vanished. He turned back towards his friend. She had sunken to her knees. "Levy! Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She huffed, her chest bobbing up and down as she gasped for breath. "Just exhausted… whew… not used to throwing around that many words all at once."

"Yeah… but you won." Goku admitted, walking over to her stretching out his hand to help her up. "You beat me fair and square." She grabbed onto his hand and he pulled her up. She stumbled, and he caught her. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"To be honest. I'm not certain I can stay standing right now, and-eep!" She yelped as Goku turned and slung her across his back, piggyback style.

"Come on. Let's get back to the guild."

"…Okay." They sat in silence for a few moments as Goku carried her through the trees. "So… did you get what I was trying to tell you?"

"Hmm?"

"About the just punching people thing."

"Oh that. Well… I mean you did beat me, but that was just a game, not a fight."

"But it still applies. Look, let's play pretend for a second. Let's say you took on a job that required you to prevent someone from being kidnapped. But the kidnappers manage to get them. You start chasing them, and one of them stays behind to delay you. They don't need to beat you, just keep you busy until the others can get away, just like I did. There are many types of magic that completely negate physical force, like being able to turn into water for example, your punches would go right through them."

"I see…" and he did. Someone he couldn't punch? If he ever had to fight somebody like that, what would he do? Levy was right; he needed to get better. Not just stronger, but better. He needed to train his brain to fight smarter…

"Hey Levy?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we should try that game again. I need to get better at fighting with my brain." A thought struck him and he smiled, turning his head to look at the word mage. "And it's perfect for your training too. I know what I'm talking about when I say there is no better way to get stronger than by pushing till you drop. Like you just did."

"True. Pushing my magic like this could really help me grow…" he could tell she was starting to warm up to the idea.

"So… it's a deal? You help me get smarter, I help you get stronger?"

"No, not a deal. A promise."

He beamed at her over his shoulder, and she grinned back.

He was gonna be unstoppable.

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I'm pretty happy with this. It's chock full of all that character-developy-goodness.

Levy's powers are kinda hard to pin down though, she literally has the power of almost the entire human language at her fingertips.

Let me know what you thought of it

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! GOKU RETURNS TO THE GUILD AND TELLS ELFMAN THAT HE HAS ARRIVED TO KEEP HIS PROMISE! WHAT PROMISE IS HE SPEAKING OF, AND WHAT AWAITS THE PAIR? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: THE HUNT!

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Alright, that's a wrap. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, I've been pretty busy lately. The next bit will be a brief original arc, followed by the gang heading out to meet some demons on everyone's favorite island. However, I might not be keeping the same cast as the one used in the main series, only Gray and Goku are confirmed so far. So who is going to go? Feel free to leave suggestions in a review, who knows what kind of team could be put together? Until next time!


	10. The Hunt

AN: All right, just two things to address here. Saiyan fan, it is fine if you want to leave reviews, I like reviews. However I don't particularly appreciate you making comments to other readers as reviews, I don't want to turn my reviews page into a forum. If you want to talk to the other readers, please make an account so that you can communicate through PMs. From this point on, if I get any guest reviews that are not actual reviews, they will be deleted.

Secondly, last chapter I asked for some recommendations of who you guys want for the next cannon arc on the island. So far I have a vote for Erza and a vote for Levy. I also have a vote for Elfman, but I'm discarding that one since he is staring in the next chapter. So if you want to have a say in who goes on the next mission, you had better say so when you review.

**Chapter 10: The Hunt **

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The trip back to the guildhall took the group a whole week. The Fairies had been forced to flee from the angry guild masters before they were able to retrieve their magical vehicle, and with the trains all down to repair the damage that Eisenwald left in their wake, the mages had no choice but to walk the entire way back. Or in Happy's case, fly.

It didn't help that the towns they passed wouldn't lend them another vehicle. Apparently the magical vehicle union had a clause allowing them to refuse lending transport to Fairies due to the inevitably poor shape it would be returned in. If they wanted a vehicle, they'd have to pay for it up front.

By the time Magnolia came into sight, only Makarov, Goku and Erza were still going strong. Gray was covered in sunburns, having lost his shirt on the first day. His skin had turned a shade of red to rival Cancer's, and he cursed himself for leaving Baba's necklace at home. Natsu ended up carrying Lucy partway through the trip, and sometimes Happy decided to join her on the Dragon Slayers back. At first Natsu had just accepted it as some weight training, but as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, all three ended up inside of Lucy's clock spirit, Horologium, which was happily trudging along while the three rested. Until Natsu started turning green, and Lucy kicked him out.

Ignoring the rest their friends' run down state, Goku and Erza were deep in conversation as they wove through the town streets.

"I've been meaning to tell you Erza, I had another one of those weird dreams. You know, those ones that show me a new technique!" Said Goku, grinning at his friend.

Erza's eyes narrowed, "I thought that we had agreed that you wouldn't try to learn those anymore after you accidently blinded half the guild."

"It wasn't that bad, everyone was fine."

"Mirajane couldn't see anything for three days, Elfman was terrified that his older sister might be permanently blind. Master had to put Cana in charge of the bar. All of the alcohol was gone by the end of the second day."

"Oh come on Erza, it wasn't that bad."

"Previous to that, you accidently cut Master's favorite hat in half."

"I got him a new one though!"

"Goku… how many of these dream techniques have you seen over the years?"

"I don't know, a couple dozen?"

"Alright, well of those two dozen, how many have you been able to actually master? And the Kamehameha doesn't count, you got to see it in person, you saw firsthand how it could be done in the real world."

"…two." Erza directed an accusatory glance at her spikey haired friend, who had the decency to look sheepish.

"See? While we've seen proof that these techniques are real, that doesn't mean you should just try to use them. You told me that these dreams are always fuzzy correct?"

"Yeah, but a few of them have gotten a bit clearer than they were."

"But they are still fuzzy. There is a reason that powerful mages and warriors learn from a master, a mage that is recklessly trying to master unknown powers is a danger to themselves and everyone around them." Erza pushed open the guild doors, though she had to sidestep Natsu as he dashed through the doors with a whoop, Happy close behind him. Gray went to go find someone who knew how to heal sunburns, and Makarov trudged his way to the second floor, muttering something about contacting the other guild masters to arrange repairs of destroyed property.

Goku followed Erza to the bar, still arguing that he could master the dream techniques by himself when he caught sight of a familiar face. He grinned as he waved to the girl behind the counter at the bar.

"Hey Mira, I'm back!" The bartender smiled back, her eyes lighting up.

"Welcome back Goku" her smile faltered slightly "… any news?"

"Yep! I managed to get some info on another Dragon Ball, stashed away somewhere in a mountain range. Tomorrow I'm going to take Elfman with me to go and track it down. A few days from now, and the fourth ball will be all ours!"

"That's fantastic!" Mira's face brightened up once more, her smile blooming in relief.

"Yeah it is, Lisanna will be back in no time." He turned back to Erza. "Anyway Erza, about this technique…"

"I told you to leave them alone Goku."

"But Erza," he whined, "this one was actually really clear, I could see everything!" Erza raised an eyebrow in challenge, and Mirajane leaned over the bar in interest.

"Oh, did you have another of you dreams Goku? Do tell."

"Well, it's this weird kind of dance, one that you need a partner for. Two people of the same size and shape, go through the motions, then at the end, they combine into one super person, their powers multiplying together to become even stronger." His grin faltered at the looks on his friend's faces.

"So…let me make sure I got this right." Said Mira, cleaning a glass as she raised a brow at him. "Two people, do a dance."

"Yeah."

"And they fuse into one person."

"That's right."

"Raunchy." Mira whistled.

Goku blinked. "But… there was no salad."

"Don't worry about it. Seriously though, that sounds kinda silly, you sure it wasn't just a normal dream?"

"I don't really have normal dreams, whenever I have a dream it's about some sort of technique."

Erza sighed, this was certainly more… fantastic, than Goku's usual dream stories. Still, she supposed she could humor him just this once. "Why don't you show us the steps?" Goku grinned widely and did just that. Both girls nodded seriously and requested that he repeat them several more times. He got to the seventh performance before they broke down and started cracking up. To his credit, Goku didn't flinch.

"So what if it looks a bit silly? Appearance shouldn't matter for a technique, the results should. What if someone like Gray and Natsu used this move and it worked? They would be a lot stronger than the rest of us."

"I don't really think that will matter Goku. Those two will either try and beat you for suggesting it, or beat each other at the thought of being forced to share a body. Nobody is going to want to use this technique, so just forget about it." Goku looked between the two teens, and it was clear that they were in complete agreement. With a sigh he backed down.

"Alright, I won't worry about that move again. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working on the other moves that I can do by myself." Mira chuckled to herself as Erza let out a low groan.

"Just be careful at least? I don't want to find out that you've managed to cut yourself in half or blown yourself up just because you wanted to learn a new move." Goku gave the redhead girl a nod and she gave a small smile in return.

"Goku!" The trio turned to see Elfman barreling across the guild towards them.

"Man, it's good to see you! Did you manage to find another one of those balls? You promised to take me with you the next time you found one remember? I know you are a man, so you'll keep your word."

"Don't worry Elfman, we're heading out tomorrow." Elfman's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth, only for, Goku to cut him off.

"Erza's fighting Natsu tomorrow morning."

The confusion cleared from Elfman's face, he nodded gravely "I'm sure Natsu will take his beating like a man." Goku gave a great grin in response.

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The next morning every member of Fairy Tail in Magnolia gathered to watch Natsu and Erza square off. Goku stood by the gambling station with Cana, who had just collected the last of the bets before the match began. The brunet took a chug of her beer before sliding up next to the martial artist.

"Alright big guy, how much power are you sensing off of them?" Goku looked between the two fighters for a few seconds before leaning back in next to Cana.

"Natsu's gotten a lot stronger since last time, I think he's gotten ahead of Gray again. Erza is matching him right now… but I don't think she's doing it on purpose. She promised to give Natsu a good match, so she's holding back so the fight won't end it in one hit. I'd say she's at…75% right now." Cana covered her mouth to hold back her guffaw, drawing a curious glance from the dragon slayer. Before he had time to voice his question though, Erza was on top of him.

The two traded blows for awhile, mostly evenly matched despite Erza's use of her Flame Empress armor. The dragon slayer was still immune to any fire she could use on him, while his own was still somewhat effective. Natsu's face was literally glowing with excitement as the battle raged on, he was completely ecstatic at how much better he was doing compared to previous fights with Erza. This was it, he could feel it. If he saw this fight through to the end he would finally defeat Erza, provided nothing got in his way he would finally-

"STOP!"

…goddamn it.

Every member of Fairy Tail stopped what they were doing and slowly turned to face the frogman that had yelled out. Cana slowly hid the gambling tally board behind Elfman. The amphibian was flanked by an entire platoon of Rune Knights to ensure that he was taken seriously, all of who had weapons aimed on the mages.

"We are here on official business for the magical council. Erza Scarlet, you are under arrest for the damages done to the town of Clover. We ask that you come quietly, or we will have to take you by force. Erza nodded stiffly and shifted back to her normal armor.

Before she could move, Goku stepped out in front of her, his entire body thrumming with power. Natsu quickly took a place besides the fighter, his flames ready.

"If you're looking for the people responsible for destroying the meeting hall in Clover, we're right here." The frog looked the pair up in down then turned back to face Erza.

"As I said, we are here for your arrest Ms. Scarlet, are you going to comply?"

"HEY! DID YOU HEAR WHAT GOKU SAID, WE WERE THE ONES WHO BLEW UP THAT BUILDING! DON'T IGNORE US!" The frog messenger backed up nervously as Natsu advanced. Several of the Rune Knights took up defensive positions around the Council's representative, staring the dragon slayer down. Natsu glared right back, but before he could attack Erza's hand clamped down on his shoulder like a vice.

"Don't you dare get yourself into trouble like that!"

"But Erza, they are trying to arrest you! You didn't even do it, this isn't right!" Erza sighed to herself and took a quick glance around at all of her friends. Most looked like they had at least some idea of what was happening, but they all had some degree of confusion in their expression. Goku had maintained his position between her and the Knights, but he had yet to take a fighting stance. That alone gave Erza confidence that a confrontation could be avoided. She pulled the orange clothed teen over beside her with Natsu and addressed them both.

"The Council is trying to show the public that they are doing something after the Lullaby incident, they won't be able to keep me for more than a day."

"That's still not right, they shouldn't be taking you at all! What if something happens, and they just lock you up or something?"

"I promise you, the only way this will be a problem is if the two of you do something stupid. As long as I comply, they should release me in a matter of hours." Natsu gashed his teeth in frustration, but Goku just looked doubtful.

"I don't know Erza, I don't like this."

"You don't need to like this, you just need to trust me."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong, you just need to trust me." Natsu opened his mouth but Erza quickly cut him off.

"Both of you do trust me right?" A pair of nods. "Then believe me when I say that I will be fine. Goku, you have a mission you were planning correct? If what you said is accurate then you should be gone for two days. I promise you that by the time you and Elfman get back, I will have already returned to the guild." Goku stared hard at Erza for a moment, then his expression softened.

"Alright, I'll trust you."

"WHAT? NO, GOKU WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" Goku put up a hand to stall the dragon slayer's rant, the hard look in his eyes once again.

"I trust you, but if the Council is doing something like this, I won't trust them. If you aren't here by the time I get back, I'm taking Natsu and breaking you out." That brought a grin to the pyro's face. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation, flames pouring out of his body.

"Alright, I guess I can wait that long. Two days, then we bust you out, no matter what." Erza looked between the pair and had to resist the urge to face palm. Some things never change.

"Alright, I guess that is the best I can get out of you." Erza turned and began walked over towards the frog man, but then she paused. With a smirk on her face, she turned back towards the pair once more.

"Goku, why don't you take my place for the rest of the match?" Natsu's eyes lit up for a moment before darkening with anger once more.

"I can fight Goku anytime, he doesn't turn down challenges. But this was the first time you've fought me seriously in months. I don't want to replace our fight with another one, I want to fight you. So you better get your damn ass back here as soon as you can, or I'll burn the entire city down when we come to get you out. We are finishing this match." Erza blinked owlishly at Natsu for denying a fight. Then with a small smile she turned back towards the Council's representative.

The red head put her hands out in front of her so that the frog man could place the shackles around her wrists. She didn't turn back at all as the Council's group led her away, directly towards one of the people she least wanted to see in the world.

She knew he would be there, grinning down at her as she always did whenever they met. The twin of the boy who had once been her best friend, and now was the main character of her worst nightmares. As Magnolia began to disappear into the distance, Erza took a deep breath. She could not afford to lose her composure now.

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It was a good day to be Cana.

She had already made a boatload on the unexpected ending of Natsu and Erza's fight, she had managed to snag some beer from the unmanned counter when everyone was distracted by the frog guy, and now she had another running pool about how the incident with Erza's arrest would end up. If things played out the way she hoped they would, her rent would be set for the next month and she would have enough left over to pay for all of her drinks for a couple weeks before she would have to take up another job.

She watched in amusement as Goku tried to get Levy to take his staff for "safekeeping" while he and Elfman were gone. Finally, Goku just shoved the pole into the bluenette's hands and bailed, dragging Elfman with him out of the building. Cana's hearty chuckles were drowned out by the regular rowdiness of the guild, however she did attract the attention of one other member.

"Hey, what are you laughing about?" Cana looked up to see Fairy Tail's newest member standing nervously before her. The girl still looked slightly uncomfortable with the atmosphere, though nowhere near as bad as when Natsu had brought her to the guild hall the first time.

"Just Goku's antics. The guy hasn't stopped being entertaining since he first got here." Lucy looked over towards the door that Goku had just exited, leaving Levy holding onto his staff with a grumpy pout on her face, then back over at the Cana.

"I don't really know anything about Goku, I don't really remember reading about him in Sorcerer Magazine. But that attack he used against Lullaby with Natsu, he must be really strong. Why isn't he more famous?"

"Well, for one thing, Goku seems to have a real talent for not being in town whenever some reporter or writer come to talk to us. He also takes a lot of the more obscure jobs, like going to some remote village to wipe out a demon infestation or something. It's like he's trying to see as much of the country as possible, he's always travelling everywhere."

"Wait, I though demon infestation missions were supposed to be really dangerous? Just how strong is he anyways?"

"He is seriously strong. He's on the same level as Mirajane and Erza, he just passed his S class trail on his first try about four months ago."

"Another S class… how do they get so strong? Erza was on a completely different level from anyone that I've ever seen when she fought in the train station. Then Goku had that giant blue beam, and I haven't even met all of the other S class mages here. It's kind of crazy."

"I can't say for sure about the rest of them, but Goku got so strong because he trains so hard, he's a bit nutty about it. Can't really complain though, I got a lot stronger when all was said and done." Lucy took an interest to that. After seeing all of the crazy things that the other mages she had befriended could do, she had to admit that she felt a bit outclassed. If Goku could help make her stronger, then maybe she should looking into that.

"You think he might be willing to help me?"

"Help you? Heh, if there is one thing that Goku is always doing besides training, it is helping people. You see Mirajane over there?" Cana pointed across the room towards the cheerful bartender who was patiently serving an agitated dragon slayer. "She and her brother, they went through a pretty bad loss a few years ago. I won't go into details, it's not my story to tell, but it was pretty bad. They were both complete wrecks, and Goku managed to give them both hope again. Mira confided in me a while ago, the emotional strain of what happened were actually sapping her powers. Goku gave her some hope, and it kept her from sinking completely into the deep end. She not as strong as she was, but she could have ended up losing them altogether if he hadn't helped."

"I didn't even know something like that could happen to magical powers."

"It's pretty rare, it takes some real messed up emotions to do something like that. Like, for example, if I don't get another beer soon." Lucy looked confused for a moment before noticing Cana's now empty mug. She blushed slightly and reached out for the mug.

"I-I'll get you another if you want." Cana raised an eyebrow, but handed over her mug without complaint. True to her word, Lucy went right over to the bar and seconds later she was coming back, three new beers in her hands. Fairy Tail's resident alcoholic grinned as all three were set before her.

It looks like she was gonna like this new girl.

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"Thanks for watching the Power Pole Levy, thanks, bye!" Goku quickly dragged Elfman out of the building, ignoring Levy's yells after him. He didn't feel comfortable taking the pole on a mission right now. After he almost lost it against Erigor… Goku shuddered; he didn't want to lose the only connection he still had to his grandpa. Still, it was in good hands, Levy would be careful with it, he just knew it. Seconds later they were in the air, the Flying Nimbus taking them out of sight from the guild in mere moments.

Elfman sat cross-legged, frowning at his friends back. "Goku. Running away from a girl is not manly. It's not manly at all."

"Oh come on, I just wanted her to watch my staff for me! It's not my fault that she didn't want to."

"A real man would have convinced her to help out instead of just dumping your gear on her and running."

"It'll be fine, Levy's too nice to hold a grudge. Elfman just shook his head as Goku chuckled. The muscular mage's attention was captured as Goku reached into his gi and pulled out a Dragon ball, its four stars twinkling at Elfman with the light of hope.

"You remembered to bring Mira's too right?" Elfman nodded, reaching up to his neck, he pulled at the rope around his neck, revealing the orange orb. He always made sure that either he or Mira had it with them at all times. He held it up to Goku's, taking in the slight glow between the two.

"Why did I need to bring this, isn't one enough?"

"You see the glow right? They glow when they get close to each other. We're going to find our fourth Dragon Ball the same way I found the third one with Natsu."

"I thought that you too said that you found that one by accident?"

"We did, but see how they are glowing? I figured out that they glow when they get close to one another. So now, whenever I'm not in the guild or training with someone, I fly all over the place with mine and checking to see if the ball glows. A couple of days ago the ball started glowing on the far side of the mountain range past Clover."

Elfman's brow furrowed. "I understand, but why didn't you just pick it up then. Our man's promise was that I would accompany you the next time you went hunting, but it sounds like this would just be a matter of fetching it. Hardly something that requires two men.

"I couldn't pin down where it was the Dragon Ball before, I think it was moving. It would start glowing and stop glowing when I was standing still, I couldn't get close enough to find it."

"Alright, so now with two Dragon Balls we can both track down whatever was running away from you, and teach it how a real man fights!" Elfman nodded in approval, a well reasoned and manly plan.

"Yep! We just have to pin it down and we'll get the Dragon Ball no problem. What could go wrong?"

Elfman's eyes bugged out. "Damn it Goku. A real man should know that it is unwise to tempt something as manly as fate!"

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The sun had already set hours ago when the pair finally landed. They set up camp, tracked down some food, then slept. Although Elfman did claim that true men slept under the stars, so he scorned using the tent.

. Elfman eyed Goku as they set off. The martial artist was silent and wouldn't stop fidgeting. The Takeover mage kept an eye on his friend but didn't say anything. He knew that Goku was worried about Erza, hell he understood better than most. If Mirajane had wound up in the same position, chances were that he wouldn't have shown the same restraint that Goku did, he would have just charged in and tried to free her. But Goku was taking his promise to not do anything like a man and sticking to it.

By the late afternoon the pair noticed that the glow of the Dragon Ball were starting to glow brighter. Goku directed the Nimbus down, coming to a landed in the middle of a thick forest.

"Alright, you so what's the plan?"

Goku scratched his head. "I guess we just walk around. Keep an eye on our balls, and see when they start glowing brighter. We'll find it sooner or later."

"Walk around, find the thing with the ball, punch the thing in the face, take the ball. Clean, simple, and manly. I like it." And so they walked. Just like when Goku had come alone, the source of the light kept shifting. No matter how fast they were, what angle they took, how hard and long they searched, nothing they did could corner whoever had the Dragon Ball. After hours of rapid movement all throughout the forest, the pair finally came to a stop next to a large rock in the middle of a sun dappled grove. Both were breathing heavily, and Elfman's shirt was stained with sweat. The man looked at Goku tiredly.

"Can't you sense energy? Why can't you tell where the thing is?" He asked.

Goku shrugged, scrunching up his brow as he concentrated. "Something about this place… this area has far more power than it should. Even the trees are practically bursting with it. I can barely even sense where you are in here." Elfman grit his teeth.

"DAMN IT!" he roared. "WHOEVER YOU ARE, STOP HIDING FROM US COWARD! COME OUT AND FACE US LIKE MEN ALREADY! RHHHAAAA!" With a burst of rage Elfman slammed his bare fist into the massive stone.

The slab shattered and went hurtling through the air in over a dozen pieces. Most bounced harmlessly to a stop on the ground, but three of the largest chunks smashed into a group of trees, shattering their trunks. With a loud crack five different trees toppled to the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust into the air. Elfman blinked.

"Oops."

"Hey Elfman, you did it!"

"Yeah… I showed that rock how to be a man! And those trees too…"

"No, look, there's a tunnel!" Elfman looked down, and sure enough a narrow tunnel was visible running right underneath where the stone had been.

"I guess we know where the person was hiding now." Goku jumped down first, Elfman close behind him, they set off, Elfman's clogs clacking against the floor. However, before they took more than a handful of steps Goku stopped.

"Hey Elfman, why do you think this weird wire is tied up across the floor of the cave?"

"I don't know, is it connected to anything?"

"I'll check." Goku moved his foot onto the taught wire and stepped down. A series of clicks sounded through the air before a small black sphere was suddenly shot into the air directly at Goku's face. The teen's reflexes took over and his hand shot up into the air a moment before it hit. He caught it out of the air and opened his hand to check the device over, only for it to blow up in his face. When the smoke cleared Goku looked perplexed, but Elfman was glaring at him in annoyance.

"Goku." His tone was full of reproach. "You did it wrong"

"Wait, what?" Goku blinked "What did I do?"

"You don't even know?" Elfman shook his head and sighed. "Come on, we need to find another one of those wires." The pair set off, wandering through several tunnels until Goku pulled his friend to a halt.

"Alright, here's another one. Now what?"

"Step aside, it's time for Professor Elfman to teach you how to properly be a man." The bulky teen stepped up to the wire and stomped down on it, triggering the same clicking that Goku had moments before. Elfman quickly caught the sphere before it could hit him, much as Goku did, but he threw it behind him before it exploded and crossed his arms. A second later the device detonated, the Takeover mage taking the blast across his back with even a flinch.

"There, now do you see how it's done?"

"So you turned your back on the bomb?"

"Very good." Elfman nodded.

"…Why?"

"Because real men don't look at explosions!"

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Goku and Elfman had gone around exploring the tunnels, setting off every trap that they could find and making sure that they never look at whatever they triggered, until they both had the expression of manly nonchalance mastered.

It was over fifteen traps later before they finally remembered what they had been doing in the first place and they set off to try and find the Dragon Ball once again. Their search went a lot faster this time, it was clear that whoever had been running from them before had likely been watching them from underground. The tunnels were littered with peepholes, all looking up towards the forest above them. Suddenly their progress was hindered by an unexpected obstacle.

"That's... a really big door." Goku whistled.

"That's a man's door." Elfman nodded. It was solid steel, reinforce with several layers and locks.

"I wonder how they got this down here." Goku asked scratching his head, it looked slightly bigger than the tunnel itself.

"Hmmm…I don't know, I suppose we could ask them. I'll knock, a door this manly needs a manly knock to match. BEAST ARM: IRON BULL!"

A single punch sent the door rocketing backwards, crashing it into the wall on the far side of the room. The pair walked into a wide cavern with a low ceiling, with magical torches spread out along the walls. There were three more of the reinforced doors along the cavern, one taking up each of the walls. One half of the room was filled with a long table with over four dozen chairs lined up around it. Every single one of the chairs save two were full, an armed man or woman sitting in each and every one. The other side of the room was filled with treasure. Dozens upon dozens of chests and crates were spilling stolen goods onto the ground, with gold, silver, gems, and other treasures piled all the way to the roof of the cavern. Goku and Elfman ignored the riches though, as the people gathered around the table noticed their presence.

"It's the intruders, get 'em!" Elfman and Goku smirked at one another, and with a pair of battle cries they charged. Elfman's metal arms shattered every weapon that it came in contact with, and downed every opponent in a single blow. Goku was weaving in and out of attackers almost faster than the thugs could even see. More than once he was able to trick his opponents into attacking each other, and the rest of the time he smashed them to the ground himself. In less than two minutes, every last one of the thugs had fallen. Neither of the Fairies had taken a scratch.

"Hmph, I was hoping they would put up more of a fight. I wanted an equally manly opponent to square off with, not a bunch of chumps." Elfman grunted, crossing his arm and staring at the treasure pile. "Well, I guess now all we have to do is find the Dragon Ball in all of this, right Goku?"

"I… don't think it's in here?"

"What? Why not?"

"The Dragon Balls are still getting brighter. Plus, I'm starting to pick up a pair of really high energy levels. I think you might be getting that fight you wanted." Elfman grinned in anticipation, and the door on the far end of the cavern slowly swung open.

The first to enter was a woman, small and lithe as she bounced on her feet, her wild pink hair was flying in every direction. The weirdest thing though, was probably the fact that she was wearing nothing but ribbons. They covered her chest, her legs, her arms, and her torso. And more importantly, they were wrapped around the Dragon Ball that was peeking out from behind some ribbons around the women's neck.

The second figure was more average, a tall lanky male with admittedly strikingly red hair, hanging around his face and giving the impression of blood running down his face.

The two pairs of fighters squared off, glaring heatedly at their opponents. The scantily clad pinkette spoke first.

"So… you two dumbasses are the one's messing with Red and Ribbon's Bandit Army."

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Hello people, it's Sturm and Drang again, back for another Omake… enjoy

**Enter the Dragon**

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_Whenever Natsu joined._

"…While a flamberge's size can easily cut a person in half, it is hardly efficient for prolonged combat." Erza explained, holding up the mentioned weapons for Goku's perusal.

Most of the younger mages were spending a relaxing day in the guild; Erza was showing Goku the various weapons she had acquired from the local weapon shop.

Levy was sitting nearby, slowly working her way through a dictionary, making note of the occasional word for future use. "Glitchy." She read, jotting down the word. "…Could be useful against golems, outright smashing them would be too difficult, but if I write this on them…" she muttered to herself, completely oblivious to everything around her.

Mira was sitting at the next table over, arms crossed and leaning back with a bored expression as she watched Erza go through her armory. Her siblings were off on a hike through the woods, which Mira had refused to go on. She better thing to do than watch birds tweet at each other, that's what she'd said anyway.

Gray was crawling around the guild, under tables and behind counters in an effort to find his pants. Several of the older Fairies, Macao and Wakaba were snickering at him as he passed by, prompting him to launch a blast of ice at them. Macao just grinned, waving his hand to conjure purple fire, dissipating the ice.

Wakaba twirled his pipe, smoke curling from his pipe to form a hand, it tapped Gray's shoulder to get his attention, and pointed upwards. Gray followed its finger and groaned as he saw his pants hanging from the ceiling.

Erza put down the great sword, pointing at another weapon. "A battle axe has similar problems. It is very hard for an opponent to block such a strike, but if I were to miss, it would leave me open for a counter attack."

"Maybe… But come on Erza." Goku replied, hefting the flamberg off the table and brandishing above his head. "You gotta admit they look pretty awesome."

Erza considered this, eyeing Goku critically as he spun around, swinging the weapons above his head. She nodded. "True, intimidation is a useful skill. But I do not wish to depend on it. Practicality and skill are much more dependable. Knowing when to use certain weapons is a key to victory."

Mirajane snorted, causing the knight to close her eyes as a vein bulged on her forehead. "Do you have something to say?" she growled glaring at the smirking takeover mage.

"Well now that you mention it…" Mira drawled, leaning backwards and smiling at the knight's anger. "I just wanna say, your collection of weapons is really impressive. Erza."

"… Really?" Erza asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Oh absolutely. It's just impressive how far you've gone to compensate for your lack of skill."

"What did you say?" Erza demanded, narrowing her eyes at the mocking girl.

"Oh, do your ears not work either?" Mira sneered. "I'm saying you have no talent, sword girl."

"THAT'S IT TRAMP. YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Erza roared, grabbing a sword and throwing herself forward. Mira's eyes glittered with glee.

"Bring it, tin can. Maybe you can bury me in your arsenal of inadequacy."

Goku backed off as the two mages started brawling, quietly placing the sword back on the table. He crept away and sat next to Levy, sighing as he put propped his head up with his hands. Levy glanced up just in time to Mira duck under Erza's slash and sweep the redhead's legs out from under her.

"Which one started it this time?"

"Mira."

"Hmmm… I guess she's bored without her siblings around."

"Yeah… do you think we should try to stop them?" Goku asked. Watching as Mira picked up a table and chucks it at Erza. Only for the knight to slice it in half, dash forward and deck Mira in the face.

"Ummm… no. It's probably best to let them get it out of their systems."

"… Do you think it would be okay I joined in?" he asked seriously.

Levy raised an eyebrow. "… Do you really want to get between those two?"

"Metal moron!"

"Satanic Skank!"

"…No." Goku sighed, his head sliding out of his arms and hitting the table with a thunk.

"Didn't think so." Levy chuckled.

Before Goku could respond the guild doors banged open. Master Makarov came walking in. "Welcome to your new home-"

"Take that you armored harpy!" Mira roared. Kicking Erza's sword out of her hand, the takeover mage grabbed the knight and spun her around, slinging her towards the entrance.

Makarov only had time to close his eyes as the armored girl slammed into him, sending the midget master flying back to collide with a young boy who had entered behind him. The three went down in a tangle of limbs, curses, and for some reason, fire.

"Ouch! Get off me dammit!" the boy roared, trying to shove the two off him. As Goku began to walk over, Levy trailing behind him, it became apparent that the boy was the source of the fire. Fire was shooting out of his mouth as he tried to shove the other two off him, only for Erza to shove back angrily, keeping all of them on the ground.

In the background, Mira had collapsed in a fit of laughter, completely unrepentant to the fact she had essentially assaulted her guild master.

Goku went to help, grabbing Erza's arm and pulling her off the pile, helping her stand while Levy helped Makarov up, the master groaning about damn brats all the while.

"You alright?" Goku asked.

"Fine." Erza replied, glaring back at Mira who was still doubled over in a fit of laughter. Goku looked back at the new boy, who had already shoved himself to his feet and was making a valiant effort to glare at everybody at once.

"Are you alright?" Goku asked, taking the opportunity to get a sense of him. The boy was slightly shorter than him, probably a few years younger too. But he also had a wiry frame, tight with muscles. He also had pink hair, which Goku thought was pretty cool, if a bit weird.

The kid snorted, "Duh, it will take a lot more than that to hurt me. Hey old man!" he turned towards Makarov, "What's the deal? Why the hell was I attacked before I even got through the door?"

"You will speak to the master with respect!" Erza demanded, promptly punching the boy. He reeled backwards, clutching his jaw, and snarling at Erza.

"Woah! Hold it you brats." Makarovs hands expanded, grabbing the two of them and separating them before a fight could start. "Natsu, please calm down, Erza's just a little protective of people she cares about, she didn't mean anything by it."

"Tch, whatever." The boy grunted, casting one last literally burning glare at the knight before looking away, grumbling to himself.

"That's better. Now Erza, stop punching people. It's rude."

"Yeah Erza." Mira cackled, still a little out of breath "At least get to know him first." Erza glared back at the demon girl, only for Makarov to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Erza." His voice cut through her rage and she took a deep breath, calming her down. "Good, now allow me to introduce your new guild member." He gestured to the boy.

"Natsu Dragneel." He grunted.

Makarov beamed, "Great now you stay here for a minute and get to know each other, I'll be back, I gotta go grab the fairy mark stamp… Mira do you know where it is?"

"The heck should I know?"

"Right. I'll be back in a bit." Makarov trotted off, muttering to himself about where he might have left it, probably on the second floor somewhere.

Behind him the younger fairies gathered around the newcomer. Goku reached forward grabbing Natsu's hand and giving it a shake.

"Nice to meet you Natsu, I'm Son Goku! So… you're a fire mage."

"Fire mage." Natsu scoffed. "I'm way more than any fire mage. I'm a fire dragon slayer."

"You killed a dragon?" Goku exclaimed.

"What? No! I just use magic meant to fight dragons."

"Oh… where'd you learn that kind of magic?"

"A dragon taught it too me." Natsu caught the looks the others were giving him. "What?"

"Let me get this straight." Goku asked. "A dragon taught you how to kill dragons."

"Yeah…?" Natsu replied, what was his point?

"Must have been a pretty stupid dragon."

"What!" Natsu shouted, his eyes flaring up again. "Igneel's awesome, he's the smartest guy ever. He can outthink and outfight anybody."

"Hmm…" Goku rubbed his chin in thought. "I think I'd like to fight a dragon."

"What you think you could beat a dragon?" Natsu snorted glaring at Goku. "Don't be stupid, Igneel would burn weakling like you to a crisp."

"Sure I could. I used to beat up dinosaurs back home all the time, they're just big lizards. A dragon's just a dinosaur with wings, right? How hard could it be?"

"Alright that's it!" Natsu roared. His fist ignited, and he launched himself at Goku. Goku caught it, smiling back at the dragon slayer. The smile faltered when he felt his hand started to itch. It disappeared completely when Natsu's fist exploded, sending Goku into the air in a blast of fire.

Goku righted himself in midair and landed feet first on top a table, sending Erza's weapons scattering across the hall. Goku looked down at his hand, the skin now bright red and raw. "Did that fire actually burn me?" Goku muttered. He clenched his hand shut and hissed as the raw skin rubbed against itself. "oh… burns are actually pretty painful…"

"Fire Dragon's Claw!"

Goku head snapped upward, pain forgotten as Natsu came flying towards him, his leg extended and cloaked in flame. Goku shot into a crouch, feeling a scorching heat on the back of his head as Natsu passed by. The fighter shot upright slamming his fist into Natsu's back and sending him rocketing towards the ceiling.

Natsu managed to right himself, just like Goku had, and slammed feet first into one of the guild's rafters. His fire shot from his legs and he launched himself back towards Goku. The dragon-slayers fist burst into flames as he barreled down towards the martial artist like a meteor.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Not to be outdone, Goku tensed and launched himself towards upwards, punching upwards to meet the fire mages attack.

They collided in midair, Goku pushed Natsu back, even as he felt the flames scorch his skin.

He had to end this quickly, He reached over with his free hand and grabbed Natsu's wrist. Ignoring the burning, he yanked downwards, pulling the dragon slayer beneath him and slamming his leg into Natsu's gut.

The dragon-slayer went rocketing downwards, plowing right through the table and leaving an impression in the floor. Natsu snarled, forcing himself upwards, when he felt something jam against his throat, pushing him back down. Goku stood above him, a cherry red staff clutched in his hand and pressing against his neck.

Goku glared down at him for a moment then smiled, his eyes lighting up with delight. "You know, I forgot to say this earlier, but welcome to Fairy Tail! I think you're gonna fit right in!"

Natsu blinked, his rage suddenly extinguished by the complete about face of Goku's attitude. Goku withdrew his staff from Natsu's neck and held out his hand. Natsu blinked at it for a second, then grinned, he took the offered hand and Goku pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks… I think I'm gonna like it here too. You're really tough."

"Thanks, you too. I don't think I've ever felt anything that hot in my life." Goku beamed, waving his burned hands in through the air and blowing on them in an attempt to cool them down. Natsu smiled, suddenly feeling a lot better about joining this guild. Still, there was only one thing to do now.

"… I want a rematch."

"Anytime you want." Goku smirked.

"WHAT THE HELL!" The yell broke their focus, Makarov had come back into the hall, clutching the Fairy Tail stamp in his hand. "I turn my back for literally five minutes, and you damn brats wreck the place?"

Goku looked around. There were scorch marks on the floor, and a bunch of Erza's weapons were sticking out of the tables and walls. It was probably a good thing there were so few mages here today, someone might have gotten skewered.

Also part of the roof was on fire.

It wasn't actually too bad, though. For some reason, Gray was clinging to one of the rafters, clutching his pants in one hand as he shot ice at the flames to put them out.

Somehow, Goku didn't think Makarov would see it that way. Makarov didn't look happy, he was stomping towards him and Natsu with anger on his face. Makarov face promised punishment, he might even be willing to do …THAT.

Goku gulped.

Goku grabbed Natsu wrist and dashed towards the guild doors.

"RUUUUUNNNNNNNN!"

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And there we go, another piece of the story lost to the dreaded timeskip has been recovered.

Let me know what you thought.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! GOKU AND ELFMAN SQUARE OFF TO DO BATTLE WITH THE MYSTERIOUS DUO FOR CONTROL OF THE DRAGON BALL! HOWEVER, NOT IS ALL AS IT SEEMS, AS ONE OF THEIR OPPONENTS WIELDS A DANGEROUS POWER. HOW WILL IT THE HEROES FARE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: RED + RIBBON!

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AN: So you know how I mentioned Natsu and Goku finding a Dragon Ball, as well as Goku's S class trial? Well, I am actually planning on writing both of those eventually. When, I have absolutely no idea. As a writer, one simple fact about what I am doing is pretty much inevitable. Eventually, I'm going to get writer's block. When that happens, rather than not posting for and going on a brief hiatus, I'll have those two chapters already all planned out and set for such an emergency. Planning ahead for the win!

Alright folks, that's all for now. I'm entering Finals time for college, so it might be a few weeks before the next one comes out. I'll get it out as soon as I can, but no promises. Until then, please review!


	11. Red Ribbon

**AN:** Alright, so far I have 2 votes for Levy and a vote for Erza to go to face Deloria, along with Goku and Gray who have their spots locked in. A whole whooping 3 votes. This is the last chance if you want a different team than those four.

**Chapter 11: Red+Ribbon**

If looks could kill, Erza would have fried Natsu alive, dragon slayer magic be damned.

It was taking every single ounce of restraint and self-control that she had gained from working with Goku for nearly a decade to not strangle the pink haired teen were he stood.

That, and the pair of magically reinforced iron bars separating them.

"Come on Erza, I was just trying to help. I wanted to make sure that you didn't wind up in prison."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, your plan to get me out of jail has gotten BOTH of us in jail! What the hell we're you thinking? I though you promised to wait!"

"I did!"

"For five minutes! You promised you'd wait a full day!"

"Like hell I was going to wait that long! Goku and Elfman go off on some mission and leave you here, and you think I'm just gonna sit on my butt in the guild waiting for something to happen? Screw that!" Natsu's shouts echoed off of the walls, drawing scowls from the rune knights guarding them.

"5 minutes. That's how long it would have taken me to convince the council to let me go. Now because of you, we have to spend the night here. If Goku beats us back to the guild hall and gets himself arrested trying to free us, I'm holding you accountable. The only hope we have of arriving in time now is if they get held up somehow."

"Oh come on its Goku and Elfman, what's going to be able to stop them?"

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"So… you two dumbasses are the one's messing with Red and Ribbon's Bandit Army." The pink hair girl snarled at the two mages, her eyes sparkling with malice, then suddenly her face cleared as she smiled at her companion.

"How was that Red? Was I all scary? Did I do good?" Her bubbly tone brought forth a loud groan from her comrade.

"Damn it Ribbon, we are supposed to be intimidating. We're killers, so can you stick to that image for more than two seconds?"

"But I've never killed anyone, you always tell me to let you do that." She whined, pouting at the man.

"Ughhh. You know what, you're right. Let's remedy that. I want you to go over there and kill one of those two while I deal with the other."

"Do I have too? If I kill them, then I might get blood all over me. Bloodstains are harder to get out than you'd think. Why do I have to do it anyways? You're the one that likes killing, you do it."

"You fight all the time, just put a little more effort into making sure they never get up again."

"…How do I do that?"

The man closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "… Choke them out, rip them apart, cut them, stab them, I don't care. Just make them stop breathing.

"What if they just pretend?"

"Just… just do that thing you do. If they pretend, I'll take care of it."

"Okie dokie Red, no problem!" She grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Red sighed again, "You're lucky that you're so strong, otherwise I don't think anyone would every bother with a moron like you."

"…sorry."

"Just shut up and let me do the talking." Red turned from his partner to address the soon-to-be-dead intruders. The black haired one was nudging the unconscious bandits to the side of the room, and the bigger one was staring at him with an appraising frown on his face. Red cracked his neck.

"Alright you two idio-"

"You are not a man." Elfman interrupted, pointing at the bandit.

"…What?"

"Men do not treat their friends with so little regard. You are not a man. You are scum."

"Really? You didn't get the fact that I'm scum from all of the crap we've stolen, or from the fact we hide in underground caves? No no, it's when I mouth off to the dumb broad that you decide that I'm an evil dick. Congratulations, you're a genius."

"I guess that it's up to a real man to teach you some manners."

"Yeah, fine, whatever. Ribbon, take care of the scrawny guy, he looks like the weaker of the two of them anyways."

"You got it boss, I'll smash him to bits lickity split!"

"As long as you do it quietly I don't really care how fast you do it." Goku tossed the final body out of the line of fire and began stretching out his legs. Elfman cracked his knuckles and grinned. Ribbon bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly and Red merely rolled his eyes. Goku straightened up, eyes locked on the dragon ball hanging from the girl's neck.

"Well then, let's start."

Elfman was the first one to move, charging straight at the 'not-a-man' like a freight train. Red calmly brought his hand up with a sigh, deflecting the first punch and following up with a jab to the teen in the gut. Elfman let out a grunt and threw a wide haymaker that Red ducked underneath. The scarlet haired man slammed his palm into the teen's jaw and followed up with a sweeping kick that knocked him to the ground. Elfman leapt back up to his feet with a roar, throwing a punch that smashed elbow deep into the stone wall when Red moved out of the way. The brawny teen's arm stuck fast. Red grabbed the back of Elfman's head and slammed it into the wall.

"Yep," Red deadpanned, slamming Elfman's head into the wall again. "I sure am learning me some manners," he drawled. "Can you at least try to make this interesting?"

**"Beast Arms: Iron Bull!"** The transformed arm exploded out of the wall and clocked the side of the thief's head, sending him stumbling backwards. Elfman wiped the blood off his lips and sunk back into a fighting stance with a feral grin. Red cracked his neck and eyed his opponent's monstrous metallic arms.

"So, since you used magic before I did, first round goes to me. Now the question is; are you going to make me actually have to try?" Elfman blitzed forwards and brought his fists together for a massive overhand blow, but once again Red was able to dodge out of the way. With a single kicked he knocked the bulky teen across the length of the room where he crashed into a pile of stolen treasure. The Fairy Tail mage rose on unsteady feet and glared over at the red haired criminal. Then with a roar he charged forwards again.

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Goku blinked when Elfman charged into the fight first. Normally that was _his _job. But he didn't have to time to feel that way for long. Right after Elfman charged, that girl had grinned and snapped her fingers. Her ribbons writhed around her body like a serpents nest and fired off a half dozen cloth spears. Goku ducked and weaved around the pieces of fabric as he tried to move in, only for the fabric to suddenly change its path and shoot straight for the fighter's back. Goku dove flat on his belly, then fired off a burst of energy to launch himself up in the air to dodge He kicked off of the ceiling and twisted his body out of the way of another attack.

Ribbon's eyes widened as Goku landed right in front of her and threw a hard right hook. The cloth around her twisted again, forming into a thick cushion. His fist sunk into the cloth without a sound and they wrapped around his wrist. Before he could pull free the rest of the wayward fabric strips caught up with him, latching onto his lambs and hauling him into the air. Goku struggled, but the ribbons just stretched to compensate. When it was clear that her opponent couldn't break free, Ribbon stalked over and poked her finger.

"Hi there! So… do you know how to kill someone? Cause I think Red might stop being mad at me if I kill you, but I don't really know how to do it. He likes to cut people up and tear their arms off and stuff. That's a bit too messy for me, blood gushing everywhere, it's icky. I think he likes it because the bloods the same color as his hair, but he says that he likes how it smells. He says he likes to take in the smell of their blood as he watches the life leave their eyes, but I never really got that. I mean, who would want to watch their eyes get all glassy? It's really creepy. But my ribbons aren't pointy enough to cut people up so that's no good anyway. Red said I could squeeze or bash someone, make them all bloody on the inside, but I usually get bored when I do that, it takes waaaaaaay too long. I mean, it takes like, a full minute to chock someone, who wants to wait that long? And then they make all of those weird choky sounds, the 'ack, haghh, blahh' kinda thing, you know? It's just, like, ewwww! I don't like it when those sounds get it my head, I hate it. But then, bashing is even ickier! It makes the skin all weird colored, and if I do it too much they can pop! I saw Red do that once, he wrapped his hand around this big guys head, and he just kept screaming and screaming, and Red was all like RAAA and the guy was all like UGGGH, and then POP! Blood bits and brains all over the place! Red told me to clean it up and I was all like 'no way, I don't want all that stuff in my pretty ribbons', and then he said if I didn't clean it he was gonna pop my head too! And I really don't want my head popped, so I need to make Red happy! So if I'm going to make Red happy, then I really really need to kill you! So, do you know any good ways to kill someone that aren't so nasty?"

Suspended in midair, completely trapped, Goku only had a single possible response to the fast paced storm of words.

"…what?"

"Awww, come on!" she huffed, pouting at him. "Don't tell me that you weren't paying attention! Red never pays attention to me either, I hate it when people don't listen. I'm fun, and friendly, and really nice when I'm not robbing people, so people don't have any reason to not listen to me."

"Sorry… you just talk way too fast. You're asking me how you can kill me in a way that isn't messy right?

"Oh goodie!" she clapped, beaming at him. "You were paying attention! That's awesome. So what's the word, punchy guy? How should I kill you?"

"Why do you have to kill me?"

"Hey! You said you were paying attention! I already said why!"

"No I mean, why do you have to do what Red says?"

"Oh! Because he's Red! He's kinda like my evil big brother. He's pretty nasty when he's mad, and he doesn't like me all that much, but he took me in and gave me like half my ribbons. So I'm sticking with him." she leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Between you and me, I already know I'm gonna bail on him one day. He's pretty mean. But until then…" she shrugged. "He's the boss."

"Oh, well I guess that means I don't really need to tell you about how you should leave him for how he treats you. That kinda stinks, I had this big speech about friendship planned out. I made it up with a mix of some of the books Levy made me read with some of the friendship stuff that Erza is always talking about."

"Oh, well that's really nice of you. I can totally see how you'd think I need to hear something like that, but I'll just leave whenever. Thanks for thinking of me. You know, I think I'll be really nice and not kill you at all! I mean, Red's totally going to kill you when he's done with your friend, but I'll just leave you knocked out so he can do it." she frowned. "Oh wait, maybe that's worse. Would you rather I kill you real quick, or would you like to fight Red and get turned into a bloody smear with your buddy?" As Ribbon was yammering, Goku was slowly testing the bonds. They tightened if he so much as flexed his muscles towards her. But they were stretchy in any other direction. He inched his hands towards his head, sneaking a glance over towards his friend. Elfman's back was to him, but Red had a direct line of sight view of Goku and Ribbon's struggle.

Perfect.

"Uh, actually I don't really like either one of those choices. Can I offer a different one?"

"Sure thing!"

"Solar Flare!"

A blinding flash of light burst into existence, lighting up the cavern. Ribbon let out a shriek and her wrappings whipped up to protect her eyes from the blast. At that instant Goku was freed, and with a burst of speed he appeared behind his dazed adversary to deliver a hard chop directly to the base of her neck. With a startled gasp she fell limply to the ground, her eyes rolled up back in her head. Goku deftly pulled the Dragon Ball from around her necked and pocketed it before turning towards the fight between Red and Elfman.

The middle Straus looked worse for wear, his shirt was torn and only attached by a few threads, and his torso was littered with bruises. Amongst the members of Fairy Tail, Elfman was physically one of the strongest members. Elfman was a brawler, depending on overwhelming strength to defeat his opponent. But Red had been dancing around his strongest blows, and was hitting back harder. Elfman just couldn't land a blow. When the flare lit up the room the bandit had clutched at his eyes with a howl. Elfman had seen his chance.

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull's Megaton Fist!" **The armored arm tripled in size as it swung forwards, striking Red dead on with the force of a battering ram. The stone walls all throughout the cavern cracked with the shockwave of the blow, the impact smashing Red straight through one of the reinforced doors and flying out into the caves.

"Ha! And that's how a real man does it!" Goku walked over to join him, brushing out some dust that had fallen on his head from the damaged stone.

"So, finally got that balance problem with the giant fist taken care of? The last time you tried to use that move you spun around and landed flat on your face."

"That is because you ducked in an unmanly way! It works just fine when it hits!"

"The Kamehameha works just fine when it hits too, but it doesn't knock me over when I miss." Elfman merely glared in response before he looked over at Ribbon's prone form.

"So, did you get it?" Goku handed the ball over with a grin. Elfman took it with trembling hands, his face lighting up with a soft grin.

"Here's another Lisanna, just three more. Just three more and we'll get you back." He murmured closing his eyes and placing the ball against his forehead.

"So that's what you guys came here for?" Goku and Elfman spun around to see Red march back through the wrecked door. He had a slight limp, but otherwise looked completely unfazed. He cracked his neck.

"All this trouble for a worthless little trinket that Ribbon found in the woods. Or is it worthless? It must be worth something if you want it that badly. As a bandit it's my job to take valuables from others. Now, I could threaten your lives, and tell you that I will only let you go if you fork over the goods, but we all know I'd be lying. After that last hit, I really _really _want to kill you. Let's get serious."

"Sounds like fun, show us what you got." Goku grinned, crossing his arms.

"That's right, we'll show you the might of real men!"

"You mean landing a hit through a cheap trick? Very manly." He looked at them and murmured.

"Full Body Takeover: Mythic Soul. Minotaur."

A massive shockwave of magical energy sent both guild members skidding backwards. When the glare faded away, a monster was revealed. Glossy black fur was pulled taut over bulging muscles that put Elfman to shame. A shaggy mane of crimson hair framed a bovine face, crowned with a pair of horns, curved and wickedly pointed. Cloven hooves dug furrows in the ground as the Minotaur glared down at them.

A single droplet of cold sweat dripped down the side of the brawny teen's face. "Another takeover mage…" he breathed. "I've never met anyone outside my family who could do that. Let alone a full body takeover."

Red snorted, his horns gleaming with a promise of death. His body blurred as he charged, his hooves cracking the earth beneath him. Instinct saved the two mages from being gored as they whipped their hands up, each catching a horn and holding tight.

Red did not slow down.

They were whipped off their feet and slammed into the cavern wall. While Elfman and Goku struggled to keep themselves from being gored, Red swung his fists forward and grabbed them by the throat.

Elfman struggled started bashing at the muscled arm holding him, but it wouldn't budge. Goku instinctively knew he wouldn't be able to budge the limb. As he felt it tighten, he went limp and began to focus his ki into his hand. As the cave started to go dark he chucked the ball of energy into the monsters face.

Red stumbled backwards with a bellow. His arms jerked backwards and tossed the mages across the room. They slid to a stop in front of a treasure pile and forced themselves to their feet, gasping for breath. They eyed the Minotaur as he rose back to his feet, hatred in his eyes.

"He's strong" Goku commented, loosening himself up.

"Agreed. It felt like getting hit by my sister as she used to be." Elfman replied, shifting his arms into massive grizzly bear arms. Red gave a roar and charged once more, head lowered and horns outstretched.

Elfman's stepped forward and crouched low, ducking beneath the horns and bringing his bear arms up to slam into the monsters chin. Red grunted as his body straightened from the blow. Goku leapt over his friend for a kick, only for Red to sidestep the blow and grab onto the martial artist's leg. Elfman's eyes widened, as his partner was swung at him like a baseball bat. The pair collapsed into a pile on the ground in a tangle of limbs, only to be kicked apart by Red's hooves. Elfman landed hard on his back with a grunt, his magic dissipating into the air as he hit the ground.

Red stalked over to the takeover mage. He grabbed Elfman's pocket and ripped the dragon ball out.  
"I will be taking this now." He snorted, dropping the fairy on the ground.

"Give. That. Back." Red turned and looked at Goku, who had forced himself back to his feet and was glaring at the monster.

"Yes. If you ask a bandit nicely, they will return what they stole." Red scoffed, his wild mane of hair whipping around as he shook his head. "I take things kid. It's what I do. I took your treasure. And now I'm going to take your life. But first…" Red lifted a single hoof and held it over Elfman's skull.

"NO!" Goku yelled. He wasn't going to let another Fairy die. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as the monster brought his hoof down.

"HA!" Goku shot his rage through his body in a sphere of blinding energy. It slammed into Red and launched him through the air.

Goku dashed over to his friend. "Elfman!" he sighed in relief as the Fairy forced himself off the ground.

"A man. Does not fall so easily." The Strauss brother gasped.

"That's good. Because I just hit him with the strongest energy blast I can use without causing a cave-in, and he's getting back up." Elfman looked. Goku was right. The bandit was forcing himself out of a crater in the wall. His chest was scorched and bloody, his face alight with rage and pain.

"A man must admit when a plan is needed." Goku nodded.

"Weaken him and put him down."

"A manly plan." The Fairies didn't wait for the monster to charge. Goku rushed towards the Minotaur, Elfman a step behind.

Goku ducked under the Red's fist and landed two solid punches to the bull's chest, sidestepped the incoming haymaker and leapt up into the air. Red swung upwards to try and knock him out of the air only for something brown and fuzzy to suddenly wrap itself around his arm. Red's surprise at his opponent's sudden tail was halted as Goku used it as a lever, spinning himself in the air and slamming himself feet first into Red's face. Unfazed, Red grabbed onto both of Goku's legs, yanked them downwards, and slammed his head into Goku's skull, sending the martial artists flying into backwards.

"Payback's a bitch." Goku didn't respond, instead he fired off a minute blast of ki from his feet, simultaneously knocking the massive man off balance and pushing the teen away from his opponent.

"**Beast Arm: Reptile!" **Before Red could recover Elfman was before him, ripping a massive gash across the thief's chest. The Fairy Tail mage didn't let up there, pressing his momentary advantage with a barrage of punches that forced the criminal further and further back towards the wall. It wasn't until his back actually hit the stone that Red was able to counter, grabbing onto one of Elfman's punches and spinning him around, pinning the teen to the wall instead. The burly teen quickly threw up both of his scaly arms defensively blocking the volley of punches sent his way. Red let out a snarl and backed off, blood dripping down from his knuckles from the razor sharp scales of Elfman's arm. He grimaced as he pulled a particularly large scale out from a meaty finger, then launched a titanic backhand that caught Elfman across the jaw. As the teen stumbled back Goku jumped back into the fight, firing off a dozen micro ki blasts that detonated on the bull's back. Red tried to counter but Goku kept his distance, resorting to hit and run tactics to keep the take over mage out of range. With a snarl Red lowered his horned head and charged straight through Goku's blasts.

Goku held his ground as his opponent charged, then at the last moment…

"Olay!" Goku dived out of his opponent's path, revealing a stoic looking Elfman directly behind him with his fist reared back.

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull's Megaton Fist!" **When Elfman launched his attack, this time he aimed _down_, hammering Red face first into the ground with the force of a few dozen sledgehammers. With his face over a foot deep into a new crater in the stone, Red snarled and started to push himself up again.

Goku threw himself up to the ceiling, pushed off it, and shot himself down like a meteor. He slammed his fists into the back of the bandit's neck, then wrapped his legs and tail around the beast in an attempt to pin him. With his target restrained, Elfman charged forwards and delivered a massive double handed strike to the monstrous man's head.

Red grunted, his eyes rolling backward and he collapsed. The monster gave a final moan and his magic dissipated, leaving the bandit laying in a crater. Goku reached over and pried the dragon ball from bandit's hand, tossing it back over towards a weary Elfman. The fairies silently assessed their downed opponent for several minutes, then they gave a whoop of victory.

"I was right, that was fun!"

"Yeah! Did you see that last hit? That was pure, now that was a manly punch!"

"Alright, now we just have to get here before we get crushed."

"What?"

"The walls are cracking."

"WHAT?"

"Run now, talk later!" With no further prompting the two bolted for the nearest door, only for the ceiling to collapse in their path, cutting off their escape. The collapse started small at first, but then with a massive crash the entire mountain fell.

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When the fairies opened their eyes all they could see was a whole lot of bright pink.

"…Are we dead?" Goku asked, straining to see anything besides the relentless color.

"No Silly you're not dead. At least, you shouldn't be." The colors writhed around them and dissipated into a forest clearing. Standing in front of them was a smiling Ribbon, the strips of pink wrapping themselves around her.

Elfman and Goku looked at the bandit who just waved back.

"Hi guys! So, you people seemed really confident and stuff and I kinda wanted to see you guys fight Red, so I pretended I was unconscious! That fight was super cool, you guys are really awesome! I can't believe you beat Red, I didn't know anybody could beat him. Although, maybe it isn't so cool, cause you guys didn't beat him one on one, if you beat him one on one that would have been like, the most epic of awesome things ever! But even though neither of you guys beat him one on one, he still went down! So then, the cave was falling, and you guys were going to get smooshed, so I decided to save you! I made a big ribbon cocoon and got us all outside and now here we are. So, I'm going to leave now, cause I figured that this is as good a time as any to ditch on Red. You should probably leave before he gets up. Cause he's gonna be maaaaaaaadddddd! So yeah." She turned to leave, then paused. She turned back "Oh yeah! One more thing." One of her ribbons shot out and smacked Goku in the face, sending him staggering backwards. "That was for hitting me. Bye-bye! See you eventually!" The girl vanished before either stupefied Fairy could say anything, swinging off through the trees with her ribbons. Elfman reached out and steadied his friend.

"Well…alright then. I guess we should get out of here too, I want to check on Erza and see if she got back yet."

"It's a long ride home, I'm sure she'll be fine by the time we get home. What's the worst that could have happened?  
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It was a furious Erza Scarlet that threw Natsu through the doors of Fairy Tail several hours later. Every fairy had returned, having known what was coming ever since Natsu's disappearance had occurred.

The Fairies loved a show.

Erza entered, her stomps shaking the guild. She grabbed Natsu by the neck and yanked him into the air. "Master, I demand that Natsu be punished for his actions! He very nearly cost us severe penalties for his disturbance of the magical council, and he forced me to spend the night in a prison cell!" she yelled, shaking the mage in the Master's face for emphasis. Makarov sighed as he stood up from his position atop the bar.

"I take it that her claims are true my boy?" A pained grunt in response. "Well then, I'm afraid that I have no choice but to make you do _that._" Natsu shook Erza off and got on his knees before the master, a look of desperation on his face.

"Come on gramps, I was just trying to help out! Don't make me do _that, _I'll do anything else you want, just don't make me do _that_!"

"You telling me not to make you do it is only reinforcing to me how good an idea it is to make you do _that_. Pack your bags Natsu, you'll be leaving first thing tomorrow morning." As Natsu cried out in sheer misery, Lucy leaned over across her table towards Cana.

"So, what exactly is _that_?" Cana took a long swig of her beer, carefully thinking of her answer to the question. Finally, she put down the mug with a content sigh and turned to look at her friend.

"I'll tell you this, just make sure that you always do everything in your power to stay on the Master's good side, then you'll never need to worry about it at all."

"That doesn't help at all!"

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! WE FINALLY KICK OFF ON THE GALUNA ISAND ARC! WHO WILL JOIN GOKU AND GRAY ON THIS PRTICULAR JOURNEY, AND WHAT AWAITS THEM WHEN THEY ARRIVE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: AN ISLAND ADVENTURE!

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AN: This freaking chapter. This annoying, awful, pain in the butt chapter. I rewrote this thing three times over and even I still needed my beta to help me complete it in a somewhat decent fashion. Thanks S&amp;D, I was dead in the water for a long time without your help. But I hate this chapter, it was obnoxious to write. I'm glad that it is out of the way, but it was completely necessary for a large scale future arc that I really want to write. After everything that happened, I'd give both myself and S&amp;D a solid B on how this chapter came out. But my opinion isn't really the important one, what did you guys think? Thanks for reading, please leave a review on your way out.


	12. An Island Adventure

**AN: **So Steven Spielberg is allegedly producing a live-action TV show based off of the Halo franchise. To this I say, TAKE MY MONEY! In other new, the Batman VS Superman trailer was pretty bad, the Terminator trailer has ruined what would have been the movie's best twist, the Star Wars trailer looks really cool and I really hope they don't kill Han and Chewie, and Ant-Man looks a lot better than I was expecting. As for Jurassic World, I'll be in the theater in the very near future. Alright, I think that covers everything, on with the story.

**Chapter 12: An Island Adventure**

"We are MEN!" Elfman bellowed as he burst through the guild doors.

"Hey you two." Macao waved from the bar; "your mission a success?" Behind him Mira glanced up at the pair, a hopeful expression on her face.

"I just told you. We are men."

"Right, how could we forget?" Wakaba rolled his eyes as Mira beamed at her brother.

The rest of the fairies gave a round of cheers as Elfman marched across the room and presented the dragon ball to his sister. Goku entered shortly behind his friend, smiling as he watched the siblings celebrate being one step closer to reuniting their family.

Then he got smacked upside the head with his own Power Pole.

"Goku." Levy's voice was calm, but Goku could tell that she was upset. Her hair was more frazzled then usual, her hairband was nowhere to be seen, and her mouth was scrunched in a pout.

"Yes Levy?"

"Take your stupid stick back!" she yelled, shoving the Power Pole into his face. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through while holding onto a thing like that?"

"This staff." She poked him with the pole for emphasis. "Is a weird magical toy. In this guild, I might as well have been holding a bowl of candy in a kindergarten; everyone wanted a piece. Droy and Loki kept trying to swipe it to see if they could grow it into a giant extendable tree. Then Gray wanted to see if he could figure out how it worked so he could make one out of ice to fight Natsu with. And then Erza got back! She saw me taking the pole away from Gray and she started yelling at me for playing around with one of your most prized possessions."

"But-"

"Do you have any idea how scary it is when Erza's mad and ranting at you and you can't get a word in?"

"I know the feeling..."

"What!"

"Nothing." Goku protested, waving his hands and smiling. "Look Levy, I needed someone to watch it for me. I've been nervous about losing it ever since Erigor. You're one of the only people I can trust to watch it."

"NO! Don't talk like that!"

"What?"

"I'm not done being mad at you yet, but it's really hard to be angry at you when you talk like that!"

"Um, sorry?"

"…Darn. Why do you have to be so nice and yet so infuriating at the same time?" Levi sighed, her face softening as Goku took the pole. "I would have been willing to take care of the staff for you if you just explained that, instead of running off."

"I know, Elfman chewed me out for that too."

"Good." Levy let out a small breath and allowed her normal cheery grin to appear. "So, what are you up to now that you got the fourth dragon ball?"

"That depends. Has Erza come back from the Magic Council yet?"

"Yeah, she got back a few hours before you did, remember how I said she was yelling at me?"

"Oh yeah. Well since I don't have to keep my promise to go break her out of jail and I don't have any more leads on the dragon balls at the moment, I was thinking of going on a job. There ought to be a couple good S class missions on the board by now."

"I was supposed to be on a job right now, we had a good one lined up." Levy sighed, "But then when Gray tested out his ice power pole, Jet tripped over it and managed to twist his ankle. Now he can't run and Team Shadowgear is on standby."

"Gray should be more careful."

"No it's alright. I already took care of him."

Goku grinned. "If you want to go on a job, you should come with me! I was going to invite Erza and the others too. We'll go on the biggest S class mission available, it'll be great!"

"Uh… I don't know Goku. I'm not sure I'm S class material."

"What? Of course you are! Remember that S mission you took with Erza and me a while ago? You were awesome!"

"Goku, we failed that mission."

"No we didn't. We beat all the dark mages."

"Yeah but we destroyed mountain shrine we were supposed to protect in the process."

"Oh come on. It'll be fun." Goku urged her smiling at her. Levy just took in his enthusiastic face. He just looked so excited she couldn't help herself.

She caved.

"Well, I guess I don't really have plans, so okay. You go gather the others. I'll check the board for a good mission. Goku's grin nearly split his face as he nodded and ran off. Levy turned to see master Makarov chatting with Macao.

"Master?" The midget wizard looked up from his drink and grinned.

"Levy! What can I do for you?"

"I'm accompanying Goku and Erza and a few others on an S class mission. Can I go check out the S rank board?"

"Hmmm… I don't see why not." Makarov sighed happily. "It's so nice when you brats ask for permission to do these things. It just saves us all so much trouble in the end."

"Thanks master!" she turned to head up to the second floor.

Meanwhile Goku scanned the guild for the telltale flash of red. It took several minutes of searching before he found his friend. She had tucked herself away in the corner of the building, facing the wall. She had a cup of water in her hand and was silently staring down at it. If it wasn't for the soft rise and fall of her chest, it would appear as though she was a statue.

Now that Natsu was gone and her anger had subsided, the only thing on Erza's mind was her encounter with Siegrain. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see were those dark, manipulative eyes. She saw the tower, guards with whips, and twisted beasts that shrieked and screamed as they flew through the air. She saw all of the prisoners there, dying because they followed her lead, because they made the mistake of trusting _her_. All of the conflict, all the bloodshed, and the only one to escape was a single girl, damaged and haunted by the friends she had lost.

No. Not lost, left behind. She was the one who had run away. She was the one who refused to go back.

She had thought she had moved past this. Left the little slave girl behind. Become a strong mage and member of the Fairy Tail family. But when her team had found the Power Pole, she had been terrified that Goku had been hurt or killed.

At that moment the little slave girl had come kicking and screaming back into her nightmares, whispering of guilt and mistakes left forgotten. Then meeting Siegrain, the twin of the boy she thought she knew so well, seeing his eyes, hearing his voice… she hadn't slept that night in the prison. The slave girl's chains had been rattling in her ears. She supposed she should be grateful Natsu had been there. Being angry at his idiocy was so much easier then listening to the chains.

She needed that… something to drown out the sound of rattling…

"Erza, there you are! I'm glad that you didn't get put in jail." The red head blinked as she looked up at Goku's brightly grinning face.

Yes. That would suffice.

"Yes well, I did end up in jail for a night after Natsu interfered. Luckily that is all, otherwise I feel that you would have ended up there with us."

"Don't worry. If the council had tried to keep you longer I would've busted you out."

"The fact that neither you nor Natsu can understand why that would only make things worse is exactly why I didn't want either of you there."

Goku shrugged, "Forget the politics stuff. Have you seen Natsu? I want get all of our friends together and go on a big mission."

"Master shipped off Natsu right before you arrived, he has to do … that."

Goku winced.

"Indeed. Happy refused to let him go through that alone, so he went with him.

"So he's gonna be gone for a few days."

"Yes, I doubt he'll be in any condition to do a mission afterwards."

"Alright then, what about Gray or Lucy?"

"Cana heard about a brewery that had a gremlin infestation that was offering all you can drink liquor for six months as a reward. She took the job before Mira even put it on the board. Then she grabbed Lucy and towed her along for the ride. As for Gray, he's right behind you." Goku turned to see the dark haired mage, surprisingly clothed.

"Hey, Levy said something about you taking us along for some sort of big job. I'm in, especially since flame brain isn't going to be around to get us blown up. So is it just the four us?" Gray asked.

"I asked Elfman on the way back, but he said that he wanted to stay here with Mira for a while. Besides, it's just one S class mission and we already have two S class mages. The four of us should do just fine." Gray shrugged. They turned to the stairs, where Levy was waiting for them, waving a piece of paper.

"I found the perfect job for us! A small village on Galuna Island needs help breaking some sort of curse, so it will give a great mystery for me to try and crack. Then, I heard that the island is home to a bunch of demons, so that will give you guys a whole bunch of stuff to fight. There's even a huge reward, the village is offering 7 million and a celestial key to whoever takes the job."

Gray whistled. "That's a pretty nice sum, but how exactly are we dividing that up fairly. I guess Lucy can have the key, none of us can use it. For the money, I nominate the guy who lives in the woods and catches his own meals as the guy who takes the smaller paycheck." Gray said staring pointedly at Goku.

"You do realize seven million can be evenly divided four ways?" Erza asked, eyebrow raised.

Goku waved her off. "That's fine, I don't really need the money anyways. All I ever use it for is food when I'm travelling. Besides, who cares about that right now? We have a mission to fight demons, let's go!"

"Indeed, we can not allow innocent villagers to bed plagued by demons"

"Uh guys, I did mention the mission is to break the curse right? The demons just happen to live there."

"Hey Goku, I bet I beat up more demons than you do."

"Heh, you're on Gray."

It was a sinking feeling that Levy watched her teammates exit the guild. Beside her Makarov shook his head sympathy. He stretched out his arm and patted her on the back. "Just make sure those three don't sink the island, alright?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Fairies were well underway, having left the streets of Magnolia behind them. Their destination was a small costal town, from which they would hopefully be able to take them to their destination.

Gray grimaced as he walked, reaching down and scratching his legs as unobtrusively as he could. It felt as though a colony of ants had climbed up his legs and were biting into him, he just wanted to rip his jeans off and start scratching everywhere. Unfortunately, Erza explicitly forbade him from taking off his clothes while they were traveling so that he would not damage Fairy Tail's reputation.

"Are you alright Gray?" Levy asked, with an odd little smile on her face.

"Yeah." he grunted.

"You seem uncomfortable."

"My pants are just itchy."

"Hmmm, imagine that." Levy grinned, dropping the subject.

Gray muttered to himself as he adjusted once more and began looking around for some type of distraction. It was then that he noticed the strange fuzzy belt wrapped around Goku's waist.

"Hey Goku, since when do you wear fur clothes?"

Erza looked over to see what her friend was talking about, and when she saw all of the blood slowly drained from her face.

"Goku…when did your tail grow back?"

"Oh, it came back right in the middle of a fight Elfman and I had against a bunch of bandits. Saved me from a hit to the face too, I got really lucky."

"I'd forgotten you even have a tail." Gray commented watching the appendage twitch around with a bemused look on his face.

"Well, it never sticks around very long. It's grown back six times now, but the next day it somehow gets cut off. The left over stump is always numb, and I can definitely tell that something happens to it, but I still haven't been able to catch whoever is doing it."

"If you would like, I shall assist you in catching the culprit." Erza stated in a low monotone. Goku looked at his friend curiously, noticing her strange tone and seeing her unusual complexion.

"Thanks Erza, I would appreciate that." The red head nodded stiffly and the group continued onwards, somewhat more uncomfortably than before. Levy could tell that something was wrong, but she had no idea what it could be. Gray's eyes were slightly glazed, he was sending tiny blasts of cold down his legs in an attempt to relieve his discomfort, but nothing was helping. Erza had her head down the whole way, keeping quiet and walking somewhat separate from the others. Occasionally her eyes would dart up towards Goku's tail, only for them to immediately turn away again. The awkward silence continued for several miles down the road until a lone man stepped into their path.

"BAD LUCK KIDDIES!" The man yelled as he pulled a wicked looking knife from behind his back. "You little snots should know better than to walk down the road all willy-nillie like this, you never know when some big bad man will come out to rob you. Now, fork over everything you got and I just might let you-

"Dibs." Gray and Goku simultaneously interrupted. The bandit looked taken aback for a moment before continuing.

"Might let you go. Now then, are you ready too…ready too… what the hell are you doing?" Gray and Goku had turned away from the bandit and squared off against one another. Slowly they brought their arms up.

"Ro…" said Gray.

"Sham…" replied Goku.

"Bo!" They both cried, bringing their hands forward. They stared at the results for a moment before shouting "Draw! Again! Ro sham bo!"

"Hey! I asked what you are doing over there!" The two teens pulled another draw and Levy stepped around them to answer the enraged bandit.

"They're just deciding who's going to deal with you. Just give them a minute, they'll be with you as soon as they are done."

"…what?" In the background Gray let out a cry of victory and Goku hung his head in defeat. The ice mage stripped off of his shirt and pushed Goku out of the way as he walked up to the confused bandit.

"Buddy, I really need to thank you for this. I thought I was going to have to wait until we got to the island to get some stress relief, but lucky me, you showed up. Now let's see if I can break my high score."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I still can't believe you guys only gave me an 18." Gray grumbled as the group set up camp for the night.

"It's not our fault you don't have any taste Gray. All you did was smack him around a bit, mess with him, and knock him out. You're lucky we gave you sixes at all, you didn't have any… pizazz." Levy said slyly.

"Gray put your pants back on." Erza commanded. The ice mage had stripped them off and was lounging on a log in his underwear.

"No. These things have been bugging me since we left." Gray replied, shaking his pants out in front of him. "I've been itching nonstop since this morning, it's like…" Gray narrowed his eyes as he spotted a marking on the back of the clothing.

"Levy!"

"Yes Gray?"

"Did you write the word 'Itchy' on my pants?" Gray demanded.

"… Yes."

"Why the hell did you do that?" Gray yelled.

"That was for what you did to Jet. He won't be able to walk properly for a week thanks to your ice pole thing."

"That was an accident." he protested.

"You should know better than to practice magic techniques in the guild hall."

Gray glared at the blue haired teen. "You're kidding right? Who doesn't use magic in the guild hall?"

"Levy is correct, Gray. Your careless actions injured a friend, and you have been punished for it." Erza turned to Levy. "How long did you empower that spell for?"

"Um… it should last until tomorrow."

"Impressive. I did not notice you showing any signs of fatigue considering you worked such a long lasting spell."

"Yeah, the training with Goku is paying off. I can make my spells last so much longer now, especially the low level ones like that."

"It was a well performed punishment, I simply would have beat him up a bit."

"I can't hit as hard as you so I had to think of other methods. I thought about writing the word on him instead of his clothes, but I thought that was a bit too much."

Gray looked back and forth between them in disbelief.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now? I only brought this one pair of pants."

"Why did you only bring one pair?" Erza asked, raising her brow. "That seems like a severe error on your part."

"I don't need more than one. Remember that necklace I got from the Baba lady?" Gray pulled out the piece of Jewelry in question. "It summons my clothes back to me when I lose them. I only need one pair."

"Well then I suppose you are out of luck."

"Oh come on!" Gray yelled. "You're the one who's so adamant about me wearing them in the first place Erza, what happened to ruining Fairy Tail's rep?" Erza tilted her head in consideration before turning towards the word mage.

"Levy, why don't you undo the spell. I think he's had enough." Erza chuckled.

"Alright." Levy's quill flashed and the word on Gray's pants vanished.

"I don't know why I put up with you people sometimes."

"I think us simply being your friend should be enough for that." Erza replied, her lips still quirked into a smile.

"Yeah, I guess that would be the reason wouldn't it. You know, it's not fair when you two gang up on me like this. I can't fight back like with Goku or flame brain. You'd kill me if I tried." he finished glaring at Erza.

"Don't be ridiculous, I wouldn't kill you. I would merely knock you out so that you would be unable to continue." Erza drawled, unaware of Gray slowly edging away from her.

"Yeah, that makes me feel so much better."

"Good, that was my intention." Levy stared at the Equip mage incredulously before joining Gray in sliding a bit further away from their armored companion. They sat silently for several moments, as Erza continued to fail at noticing either mages' sideways looks. The silence was interrupted by the sound of a cracking branch and the three mages turned to see Goku carrying a giant slab of well cooked meat over his shoulder.

"I see you figured out how to cook with your energy blasts then." Erza noted as Goku distributed the food around the group.

"Yep, cooked it medium rare and didn't accidently blow it up." Goku ripped a huge chunk off of the carcass and dug in, leaving a mess of juice all over his face. The rest of the group knew better after years of experience and turned their back to the grisly spectacle as they enjoyed their own meal. The rest of the evening passed by relatively uneventfully and each teen turned into their respective tent. Two quickly fell asleep, the events of the day catching up to them. In one tent the occupant lay wide awake, unsettled as she steeled herself to do what she had come to consider her duty to her friend. Finally, the final guild member had fallen into a different kind of sleep and dreamt of things that could have been.

_For the third time he had made it to the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and for the third time he squared off against an enemy who he knew was stronger than himself. Just like Jackie Chun and Tienshinhan before, this new Piccolo felt stronger, his Ki signature was greater than his own. This time though, the stakes were far higher than at either of the previous tournaments. If he lost, then there wouldn't be anybody around who could stop the demon from laying waste to the world and ruling it as he saw fit. As powerful as the other fighters were around the world, none of them had the level of power needed defeat Piccolo, not even Tien or Master Roshi. _

_ The blonde announcer was talking with the same enthusiasm that he had for every single match every year of the tournament, but his words barely reached the fighter's ears. Despite the atmosphere of the crowd, he had never been more worried for a fight in his life. The two strongest fighters on the planet were squaring off in what would be the greatest challenge and the greatest fight that he had ever been in. His grim gaze was met by a smug smile from his adversary. Finally the announcer stopped talking and as one both of the fighters moved. They clashed in the middle of the arena with elbows thrown, struggling to outmuscle one another when-_

Shhhhink!

Goku leapt out of sleeping bag at the sound of a blade leaving its sheath. He leapt out of his tent and came face to face with a startled Erza. Goku saw the sword in her hand and has immediately on guard, searching his surroundings for any sign of danger.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"I-I thought you- I heard a noise," Erza stammered. "I- I was just checking around… I didn't mean to wake you."

"Its fine, you didn't mean to. Now, what did you hear?"

"I- it- I'm not sure. I just heard something and it woke me up so I can out to check. I thought I heard it from somewhere around your tent."

"Alright" Goku nodded, focusing his Ki to try and detect any intruders. "I've slept enough now, so why don't you go back to bed while I stand watch."

"You… you don't really need to do that, I can stand guard."

"Erza, you're talking funny, you're really pale, and you're all sweaty. You look like you need to get to sleep a lot more than I do. I'll call Nimbus and fly around the area to see if I can find what woke you and then I'll stay in the air and watch out for any sign of danger."

"But… I…" Goku gently turned his friend around and pushed her back towards her tent.

"Goodnight Erza, see you in the morning!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Galuna Island? No way will I risk my crew going to that cursed place! If you want to get there, you find your own way because no sane Captain here will risk those waters." The grizzled old man before the group turned in a huff and stalked away, leaving the teens standing in the middle of the road.

"Well, that's the fifth Captain we've talked to now. I think we need a new approach." Gray noted as they began looking around the harbor once more.

"It's too bad we can't just fly over on Nimbus like when we were kids." Levy said. "But even if we could all ride it, we wouldn't be able to fit anymore." Goku looked around. They couldn't find a boat and they couldn't ride Nimbus but maybe…

"Hey Levy, can you make a chain about twenty feet long?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"And Gray, and you make a big ice sled large enough to carry three people?"

"With my eyes closed."

"Great! Then I'll ride Nimbus across the ocean, and we'll connect the chain between me and the sled so that Nimbus can drag you across!"

"That's… actually a surprisingly good plan." Levy flicked the side of Gray's head for the remark but Goku was barely paying attention. Nimbus was already on its way down and the spikey haired teen turned to look pointedly at his two friends.

ICE MAKE: ICEBERG!

SOLID SCRIPT: CHAINS!

A massive floating ice block formed and was then lassoed by the word 'chain', dozens of metallic words burst out of the air and moved to Levy's will. The other end wrapped itself around Goku's torso as the boy jumped up and took his position atop of his cloud. Levy and Gray hopped onto the ice and the three turned towards Erza. The girl had barely spoken all day, and her eyes were unfocused. She had docilely followed the rest of the group around for the entire day with barely a sound, and it was beginning to get to them.

"Erza? Are you alright?" Goku asked. The red heads eyes snapped towards him, took in their makeshift boat, and then cleared.

"Yes, I'm quite fine. I merely had difficulty sleeping last night. Don't worry, I shall not let it be a problem for the rest of the mission." Erza made her way over towards the iceberg, sidestepping a large man as she walked. The man turned, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving the teens a friendly smile.

"Hello there! I heard that you were looking for passage to Galuna Island and I thought I might offer my assistance."

"No thanks." Goku replied from atop his cloud. "We don't need a ride anymore, and after everything we heard about the island we shouldn't risk anyone else anyways. Thanks anyways, bye-bye!" With that the gang was off, blasting across the water at such a high speed that Gray had to freeze their feet to the ice to keep from flying off. The man tried to call out to the teens but in a matter of seconds they were out of hearing range and the words were lost to the waves.

The weight of the load it was carrying slowed Nimbus down to a fraction of its normal speed, but even factoring that in the little cloud was still able to move the tiny iceberg faster than any boat that had ever seen the waters around Fiore. Gray was forced to work constantly the entire trip, maintaining the sled to keep it from breaking down. Levy had partially wrapped herself into the chains connecting the two groups to keep her balance while Erza stood stoically at the back of the platform, calmly surveying the horizon. Dark clouds were gathering off in the distance, obscuring their view of the island which should have already been in sight. The waves were beginning to increase in size and the ice platform was being swung around in every direction. Nimbus was growing unsteady, trying to simultaneously deal with the wind and its towing load was causing difficulties and Goku had to make a conscious effort just to stay on.

"Goku! I think we need to ease up, I don't know how much more of this we can take! Slow down!" The wind stole the words right of Levy's throat, whipping them away before they could reach the flying teen. Gray fired off a large bolt of ice magic to stop a large wave from swallowing them and then he too tried to yell to Goku.

"Hey man, we're in trouble here! I can't keep the boat from sinking and stop the waves at the same time! We need to get off the water!" Once again the spikey haired fighter couldn't hear his friend over the storm and he continued flying forwards, pulling his allies towards the island with all his might. Erza didn't bother yelling, instead she requiped into her Heaven Wheel armor.

"He cannot hear us! Quickly, grab on and I will attempt to fly us out!" Gray quickly grabbed onto Erza's arm and froze himself to the metal while Levy began to unwrap herself from the makeshift boat. Suddenly her concentration was ruined when she heard a cry of surprise behind her. She turned just in time to see Goku disappear beneath the waves, knocked loose by a massive water sprout. Then the chain connecting them went taut and the blue haired girl was pulled beneath the waves as well.

"SHIT!" Gray yelled, he had seen the danger but he had been too slow to save Levy from going under. "Damn it! Erza we need to find them right now! Quick, get in the sky so we can-" Gray's orders were cut out as a massive waved crashed over the pair, pulling them apart and sending them spiraling away from one another beneath the waves.

With the storm raging all around them, the mages of Fairy Tail had all vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hello everyone, I am Sturm And Drang, Heroman's Beta.

Welcome back to another Omake.

Buckle up, it's gonna get a little heavy.

**Tails of Trouble**

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

_About sixth months after Goku and Erza joined Fairy Tail_

If a traveler bothered to look around the town of Magnolia, one could find many spots that mages used to train their skills. Shattered rocks, distorted trees, and other forms of magical collateral damage often marked these places.

An experienced Magnolite would know that these were distinct signs that Fairies had been in the vicinity.

These areas are popular among the mages, young and old, as a place to practice their magic without blowing up half the guild. And on this day, the young knight of Fairy Tail could be found in one such place.

Erza stood still, balanced atop a training post. Surrounding the young mage hovered an array of weapons; swords, battle-axes, maces, and even a couple spears swam through the air around her.

Erza steadied herself and concentrated. Slowly the weapons began to align around her; she needed to be able to control them with perfect precision. If she could, there would be no limit to how many opponents she could fight at once. The weapons began to spin like a satellite around a planet. The clearing filled with a droning buzz as the blades cut through the air. The armaments began wobbling in their path, but Erza grit her teeth and forced them back into place. As long as she kept focus she could stay in control. In a real fight she could not allow her focus to be broken. Nothing could be allowed to-

"HEY ERZA!"

"Eep!" The knight's eyes flew open and, her focus broken, toppled from her perch. The weapons, no longer bound by her will went zipping off in all directions. They crashed into the ground, cracked stones, and buried themselves into the surrounding trees. A lone battle-axe went spinning off into the sky, vanishing into the clouds.

She sighed, knowing who had interrupted her, and consequently, how futile berating him would be.

"What Goku?" she asked, not bothering to sit up. She just continued to lay prone on her back as a mop of spiky black hair filled her vision.

"Erza? You sound upset. Are you upset?"

"Goku, what do you want? Couldn't you see I was a little busy?" The martial artist smiled at her excitedly.

"Well, I woke up this morning and everything was normal. I didn't feel like eating at the guild so I decided to go hunting for some lizard or something. I was walking through the forest trying to find something tasty when I realized something AMAZING!" He turned around and bent over. "Check it out."

Erza glared up for a second, uncomprehending. Then it clicked. Oh.

OH.

His tail had grown back.

"Isn't it cool!" Goku exclaimed, beaming at her while the chocolate brown monkey tail wove innocently through the air above her face.

"Yeah. Really cool." She replied, she brought her hand up and grabbed the tail, shoving it away from her face. Goku stiffened and staggered away from her.

He moaned, gently rubbing his tail. "Ouch, that really hurt."

"My apologies." Erza said, getting back to her feet. "I didn't think I grabbed it that hard."

"You didn't. Man… forgot how much it hurts when someone else squeezes it."

"What are you going to do now?" she asked, thankful that Goku didn't catch the apprehension in her voice.

"Ummm…" Goku screwed up his face in thought. He brightened. "I know, I'm gonna go show Levy! I bet she would think it's awesome!"

"Yeah, I bet she would."

Goku nodded, grinning with glee as he ran off. When he disappeared from sight the brittle smile disappeared from the Knight's face. She began moving around the clearing, gathering what weapons she could.

She didn't like that tail. Something about it was…unnatural. Spotting a lance buried halfway up a tree, she began to climb. As she lost herself in thought, the image of Gohan flashed across her mind.

"…_His tail is dangerous, to himself and those around him. You must promise me, for the safety of my grandson, please make sure that you always get rid of his tail as soon as you see it return."_

Reaching the lance she began to tug on it bit it was buried deep in the wood that it wasn't yielding to her easily. Could she really do it? Cut off Goku's tail? It would hurt him both physically and emotionally… but she had promised his grandfather that she would do it…

Until now, she hadn't been sure that it would grow back. She hoped it wouldn't, and there hadn't been any sign of it. She wasn't sure what to do now that it had.

Finally she ripped the lance out of the tree and sent it to her reequip space as she set off for the guild. She stopped for only a moment to raise her hand to catch her battle-axe as it came falling out of the sky before continuing on her way.

The usual laughter and yelling heralded her arrival. She opened the doors to see Goku, showing off his tail to anyone who would look.

She needed advice.

She scanned the guildhall, her eyes passing over Mirajane, who would laugh off her concerns, and landing on Makarov, drinking from on top of the bar counter and laughing as Goku poked Levy with his tail.

Perfect.

She approached him, quietly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. But she didn't need to worry, Fairies were like cats, anything unusual captivated their attention completely, and with Goku prancing around imitating a monkey she was just one step short of invisible.

"Master."

"Oh Erza! There you are. How is the training going?" The midget of a master asked, a smile splitting his face in two.

"Fine." Her tone caused the smile to fade somewhat from the master's face.

"What's the matter?"

"Master. May I speak with you? In private? I believe it is important." Smile gone, Makarov considered her carefully and nodded. He hopped down and gestured for her to follow. He guided her through the roiling crowd of fairies to a tiny side room. When he shut the door behind her, all the noise of their guild mates shut off completely.

"Now what's this about?"

Erza quickly explained the situation: Goku's tail, Gohan's warning, his request, her promise, and her misgivings. The wizard saint listened intently, nodding to show he understood.

"Tell me," the master began, once she had finished. "Do you believe that this Gohan fellow's words are worth following? Worth inflicting injury on a friend?"

Erza flinched. It sounded terrible when he put it like that… But… "That's why I'm asking you. I could tell that Gohan truly loved Goku, it was obvious just by looking in his eyes. He looked at Goku like you look at us. But he still asked me to do it. I can't help but think that he must know something that we don't."

"…Then perhaps we should get rid of it." Erza's head snapped up, shocked. The guild master sighed. "I see all of you little brats as my family, the thought of purposely hurting one of you hurts me…but we must lay out the facts. Goku isn't human." He held up a hand to halt her protests. "Think about it. His physical strength and durability are nothing short of superhuman, and now he just grows a monkey tail. I'm not sure what his power comes from, because it sure isn't magic. I've checked. We have no idea what will happen with him next, but it could be very dangerous to himself or those around him."

"Goku would never hurt Fairy Tail."

"I agree… but, Erza… being the master, it means more than just being the strongest, or bossing you brats around… to be a leader means sometimes I have to make tough choices. While I believe Goku would never hurt us on purpose, I know he could easily hurt someone by accident. I would rather have to hurt him a little now, then be too late to stop him in the future."

Erza remained silent, trying to take in all he had said… then, "You've… had to do something like this before. Haven't you?"

To his credit, Makarov didn't flinch. He just closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes. I'm not going to give you details. But I have."

Erza nodded once more, she had no right to pry about things that were obviously painful for him.

The matter settled, Makarov patted Erza's shoulder. "I'll come find you after the party winds down. We will deal with it then."

The party had been a tame one, by the guild's standards anyway. All of the tables and chairs were still in one piece.

Goku had spent most of the time climbing anything he could get his hands on, screeching like a monkey as the rest of the Guild laughed at his antics.

For Erza, it had been a misery.

She couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off Goku. She made herself watch every moment he spent playing with his tail. He clearly loved having it.

And she was going to take it away from him.

All the food became tasteless; none of her friends' joy was able to penetrate her feelings of guilt. She kept herself out of sight as much as possible. She couldn't bear to talk to Goku right now.

"Erza." She jumped, turning she saw the master looking at her. She could tell what he wanted by the look in his eye.

It was time.

Makarov clasped her hand in his and brought raised his other upwards and she felt a rush of magic surge around her, spreading throughout the guild.

One by one, all of the guild members still able to stand upright were falling, snoring before they even hit the ground. In the end the only one still standing was Goku, looking blearily at the state of his guild mates until he too collapsed.

"There." Said Makarov. "That will keep them all asleep until morning, with luck, when they come too, they mostly won't question why Goku's tail is missing. Just put it to their drunk imaginations." He gestured for the younger mage to follow as he moved towards the slumbering fighter.

They stood over Goku, watching as his tail twitched in his sleep. Erza raised her hands and Requiped a pair of giant scissors into them. They were Surgery Scissors, their enchantment would automatically numb the pain of any injury they inflicted. Even with the sheer sensitivity of his tail, he wouldn't feel a thing.

"You don't have to be the one to do it, you know." Makarov said quietly.

"Thank you for the offer Master… but, I do. This was my idea, it is my responsibility."

She brought the scissors to the base of Goku's tail. She looked down at Goku's face, taking in his contented smile for a moment.

"I'm sorry."

And she slammed the scissors shut.

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

Beta's Note

Okay… That got a little heavy… this is my first attempt at such a serious toned story. I'm more about comedy really. Originally that's what this story was gonna be like: multiple shenanigans ensuing as Erza cut his tail off over the years trying not to get caught. But as I wrote it, it became more serious.

Erza didn't do this lightly; she is literally mutilating her friend, even if she believes it's for his own good, and that hurts her. Makarov understands, he had to banish both his son, and then his grandson, (Even if he kinda came back later and everything was suddenly okay).

Heavy the head that bears the crown. I know I would never want to be a king or anyone with that kind of power. I'd probably abdicate within the hour. Two tops.

I'd love it if you let me know how I did.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! FAIRY TAIL IS SCATTERED, AND HAS LANDED ON GALUNA ISLAND AN ENTIRE DAY LATER THAN PLANNED. WITH THEIR ENEMIES PLAN ALREADY NEARING COMPLETION, WILL THE TEAM BE ABLE TO COME TOGETHER TO TAKE ON THE POWER OF ZEREF'S DEMON? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: A COLD REUNION!

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Anyone else pumped for Dragon Ball Super, or is it just me?


	13. A Cold Reunion

AN: So…Jurassic World. Before I get into this chapter, I just feel the need to talk about Jurassic World. Spoilers are ahead, so if you don't want me to ruin something for you, then just skip to the beginning of the chapter. Now, I am a huge fan of the first movie, I thought that the second was mediocre, and the third was crap. I especially hated what happened to the T-Rex in number three, they made the thing go down like a complete bitch, it barely lasted thirty seconds in that fight. So when I went into the theater to see the new one, I had very low expectations for the film. Overall, I think those expectations were correct. The movie had more ham than a Scooby Doo cartoon, the dialogue was so corny I thought that I had walked into a B movie. The CGI was overdone, I thought the dinosaurs looked far more realistic in the original movie. However, it is because of that kind of stuff that I thought the movie was terrific. I love B movie monster flicks, if anything I think they went too light on the carnage. The cheesy dialogue was hilarious, nobody talked like a real person; instead they were all just stereotypes. On top of the cheese, there were two scenes that I absolutely loved. The first is in the trailer, the scene where the pterodactyls go nuts in the park and terrorize the public. The very second the British nanny character came on screen I predicted her death, and I loved the part that proved me right. As for the other scene that I loved, damn the last twenty minutes were awesome. Velociraptors Vs super T-Rex velociraptor, was awesome, but any idiot could tell that the little guys were destined to loose. Then the idiot scientist lady says "we need more teeth." She runs off to one of the cages and yells for the computer geek to open the cage. He argues but eventually concedes, and as the cage is opening up she lights up a flare, just like the one from the first movie. A few giant footsteps later and this chick is running back towards the fight, chucking the flare at the giant super dino. The dino looks up with a look like 'huhhh?' Then, bursting through the skeleton of the fucking Spinosaurous, the mother fucking T-Rex. That was so freaking cool! I think that the fight between those two might have been worth the price of admittance by itself. So, I would say that this movie has surpassed the other two sequels, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good old fashion B monster movie. That was my third movie experience this summer, following Avengers: Age of Ultron and Mad Max. Next up I think is either Terminator or Ant-Man, not sure which one yet. For those of you who care, I'm a huge movie geek, so if anybody ever wants to chat with me about something like that then send me a PM. Now, on to the chapter!

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(My friend has made me aware that last chapter wasn't very clear on the timeline. So just to make it clear, my story is currently one day behind the timeline of the main series. The group actually spent a night camping, while in the main series they moved to the island at the fastest speed possible. So the group is a day behind, and that means that the final confrontation is happening this night. My reason for doing so? So I don't have to write about the stakeout bit or the bit about them sleeping in the demon town. I was just bored for that entire part, so I'm skipping it.)

**Chapter 13: A Cold Reunion**

Gray's eyes snapped open.

He had luckily washed up on the beach, the tide still brushing up against his torso as he groggily pulled his head from the sand. His shirt and jeans were long gone, leaving him in his spandex shorts. With a small smile he brought his hand up to the necklace still hanging over his chest and squeezed the gemstone. In a flash of light the clothing reappeared around his body, still completely soaked from its time in the ocean. That was one problem more or less solved.

Unbothered by the chill of the ocean breeze, Gray began to survey the beach for any sign of his companions. It seemed that he had landed on a particularly narrow portion of the beach, there was a cliff before him and nothing but rocky outcrops in either direction. The place was completely void of any life except for a few bits of foliage visible at the top of the rock formations and a forest off in the distance. The sun was lazily making its way across the sky, already a few hours past noon. The storm must have blown itself out.

Finally Gray spotted a plume of smoke wafting upwards in the distance. Seeing nothing else around, he shrugged to himself and began walking. There'd be people there, and the others would probably head there if they weren't already there. He didn't doubt that they were fine. Goku and Erza were too tough to be taken out by a storm and Levy could be pretty gritty too when she wanted to be.

So he'd meet up with them and figure out what to do from there.

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When Erza awoke, there was a fish in her face. She let out a started yelp, sending bubbles up towards the surface of the water. Startled the fish immediately swam away, vanishing from sight in the darkness of the ocean. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened.

She remembered the storm, falling into the water. She had donned her Sea Empress armor in an effort to her friends. She remembered reaching Gray and giving him a push towards the shore. Then something had hit her in the back of the head, likely the raft. She hadn't been prepared for the blow, and the sea empress armor didn't cover the back of her head… nor did most of her armors, now that she thought about it. But now wasn't the time to consider investing in a helmet.

She had lost consciousness and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, her water based armor the only thing keeping her from drowning. She must have been here for several hours; she could feel a distinct drop in her energy from using the armor's ability. If she had been trapped here for longer she may not have been left enough energy to escape.

But as it was, she did have the energy. The red haired knight shot off towards the surface, shifting into her Blackwing armor the moment she made contact with the air. Erza made her way upwards and took off towards the island in search of her friends. Once she reached the shores she began to circle like a hawk, looking for any signs of where her friends had landed. The village stood out clearly amongst the trees and would likely be a good place to start, however she held off from diving directly down. If any of her friends could see her from her position in the skies then they might be able to signal their locations. Sure enough, on her third loop around Erza caught sight of a thin red pole burst out from the trees and grow straight up into the sky. With a small grin she flared her wings and descended down through the foliage.

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Levy awoke upside down with something fuzzy brushing up against her face. She looked around in a haze, everything was moving around her, slowly bumping up and down as it passed by her. It her a few seconds to realize that her surroundings weren't moving, she was. And with that realization everything else began to swim into focus. She was on dry land again, her magic chain was no longer around her, and someone was carrying her over their shoulder. Finally, she noticed the orange gi top she was pressed up against.

"Goku?" she whispered. The motion stopped and Levy was whipped around so quickly that her stomach churned in protest. She found herself on her feet, a hand on her shoulder to keep her steady.

"Hey Levy, you're finally up! I was beginning to get worried, you've been out for a couple hours. I've been walking around trying to find the village for ages so I can get you to a doctor, but I got lost in the woods." The martial artist, his rapid-fire words drilling into Levy's skull and making her head swim. She held up a hand to ward off his verbal assault and massaged her head until it cooled to a dull throb.

"I'll be fine." She said. "My head's just a bit dizzy is all. What happened to the others? Can you sense where they are?" she paused, her brow furrowing. "Wait… how did you even get lost? You should be able to sense a village on an island this size no problem. So that means either something on this island is messing with your powers, or you're in really bad shape and you're trying to play it off to keep from scaring me. Which is it?" she asked, crossing her arms and staring at Goku. Goku shook his head, grinning at his friend's rapid deductions, but then his face turned grim.

"There's something on this island giving off massive amounts of energy, it's covering the entire area and all of the water around it in a giant dome. I think that's where the storm came from, and that's why I can't find anybody." Goku rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "It's like this buzzing sensation, its covering everyone's presence up and messing with everything else. I would bet that it's the source of the curse we were sent here to break. But…" Goku trailed off, glancing to the side before looking back. "It's strong Levy. Really strong. The only time I've ever felt anything even remotely like this was that one time Gildarts decided to fight me seriously."

Levy paled, remembering the incident. Goku had returned in a full body cast, barely breathing. The only thing that had kept her from losing her mind was the large grin on his face from having just received his S class certification. Gildarts had followed him into the Guild, apologizing profusely for overreacting so badly. But never before had Levy ever seen Goku so badly wounded, not even in the massive fight against his Grandfather. In fact, she had never seen a single member of Fairy Tail ever hurt that badly. And it hadn't even been intentional, just a minor slip of control. The thought alone was terrifying.

"What? That strong…?" Levy gulped, the tremor in her voice making Goku's expression soften. Levy took a deep breath. "Then we need to get out of here, we are completely outmatched. What about Nimbus? Nimbus can fly, what if we go over the storm? We could grab everyone, go back to the guild, and then you and Erza can come back, and you can bring Laxus or Mystogan, or one of our other heavy hitters!" Goku shook his head slowly, letting out a worried sigh.

"I've had Nimbus circling the island, looking for some way out of here, but it can't get past the barrier again, it was nearly destroyed getting us in here. It doesn't even have the strength to carry more than one person right now, it's completely spent. We're stuck here until this is over, whatever it is." Levy's pupils dilated into mere dots and she grabbed onto Goku like she was clutching a lifeline.

"That can't be right. I can't do something this big Goku, I told you I'm not ready! I'm not a fighter, I'm just a bookworm! I don't stand a chance here, I'm no fighter! How can I possibly do this, I don't want to die! What are we going to do?" Goku held the trembling girl and gave her a gentle shake, just enough to jolt her out of her panicked rambling.

"Hey, we'll be fine okay?" he reassured, "Erza and I are two of the strongest mages in the whole guild, and Gray is one of the best fighters. We can protect you if you really think you need it, but I think you're just underestimating yourself. You've been training with all of us since we were little kids, you can hold your own in a fight. We can do this, we just have to find everyone and stay calm. As long as we do that we should be able to take care of this little curse no problem. Just trust me okay? I'll make sure we get out!"

"How? If we really do have to fight something on the same level as Gildarts, we don't stand a chance. If I'm underestimating myself, then you're overestimating yourself."

"None of us can beat whatever it is alone. But every fighter has there weakness, even someone of Gildarts level. We don't need to out muscle whatever is trapping us here, we just need to out think it. Heck, it might not even be a mage; it might just be the curse itself. Then all we would have to do is unravel it and we are home free. Use our heads, you taught me that." Levy closed her eyes and took a handful of deep breaths. When her eyes opened once more they were clearer, the fear was still there but now it was under control. No longer the paralyzing fear, but the kind of fear that motivates you into action.

"Yeah, I did didn't I?" she smiled weakly. "Alright then, first order of business is that we need to find Gray and Erza. We're going to need everything we got if we want to pull this off. Next we'll have to find the village so we can let them know we are here and get as much information as we can about what we are up against. We'll have to be careful, we don't want to draw the attention of whatever is behind this until we are ready, if it's an actual curse and not a mage then we have to avoid triggering it. So we should stay on the ground and avoid flying, and we should travel through the woods rather than through any open areas. So, how do we find the others?" Goku was looking over Levy's shoulder now, staring off into the sky.

"I don't think we need to worry about finding Erza anymore." Levy turned and scanned upwards, eventually catching sight of the streak of scarlet and ebony soaring around the island. Goku carefully studied her speed and prepared a small energy ball in his hand.

"I'll flag her down." Levy's eyes widened and she jumped in front of Goku's line of fire to prevent the orb from launching.

"I literally just said we're doing this stealthily! Shooting explosives into the sky is not stealthy." She deadpanned. "You'll let every living thing on the island know where we are! Give me that Power Pole, I'll signal her."

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The villagers had no clue what was going on. Gray had spent a half hour in the village asking for information about the job and about his missing friends. When he had trudged into the village, the locals had greeted him and not much else. He questioned them as much as they could, but they just wound up confused. They had spent most of the time complaining about one of their fallen islanders and how they wanted him to try and take out the moon. The only mage alive who _might_ have a chance at that was Gildarts, and that was only if he somehow managed to get high up enough to actually lay a hand on the thing.

Instead Gray had questioned the cursed villagers on the strange happenings around the island and had barely been able to contain himself from flash freezing the idiotic village elder. A strange light going up for three straight years around their mountain that prevented any of them from being able to gain access. They should have called for help ages ago, then maybe things wouldn't have gotten so bad. So with no sign of his friends Gray had decided to head up to the mountain himself to see if he could figure out the problem himself.

"I bet the only reason this is even an S rank is because they were hoping to get someone powerful enough to actually pull of their idiotic idea with the moon. Just because the moon glows weird on this island it doesn't mean blowing it up will do anything. Only someone as dumb as Natsu would think that was a good idea." Gray grumbled as he slowly trudged up the mountain path towards the peak. The villagers had said that the light started up at roughly the same time every day, so chances are the others would see it too. If they went up to investigate then chances were that they would into one another.

As the teen made his way uphill, he was completely unaware of the fact that he was being watched. A large group of people hid just within the edge of the woods, lined all along the trail. They silently signaled to one another, sending a message up the mountain far faster than Gray was walking. The message reached its destination when it come to the top of the pathway and was delivered to a masked man and his compatriots. The rest of the group dismissed the possibility of a single intruder being anything more than a nuisance and went back to preparing their ritual. The masked man stepped away from his comrades, forming a delicate icy telescope in his hand. As he reached the edge of the mountain he raised the device up to his eye. What he saw brought a slow smirk to his face.

"Gray."

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Once the situation had been explained to Erza, it had taken a good amount of convincing to keep the girl from going back up into the sky to try and locate Gray. She loathed that her friend was endanger, but no one could figure out how they could safely track him down. Already in a bad mood before, the teen had become waspish, and the other two were struggling to deal with her as they scoured the island for their friend. However, she was not the only one annoyed.

It was taking everything Goku had to not run off to find the source of the power, to challenge it. Goku cared for his friends and their safety, he really did, it would always be one of his main priorities, but one indisputable fact about the teen is that he is a warrior. Hiding, sneaking around, trying to stay out of a fight, everything about his current actions went against his very DNA. His blood was screaming out at him to battle, causing his tail to constantly fidget behind him as he searched around him, hoping to catch a glimpse of the monstrous power.

Levy's mind had cleared from her previous panic and now her analytical mind was working on overdrive. She desperately hoped that this power was just coming from a curse. Curses, even the one backed up by this much power, were just complexly woven spells. They could always be unraveled, and that was one of her specialties. The Shadow Gears were whom the Fairies called when the problem couldn't be solved by punching it or blowing it up. It would just be a matter of figuring out where the threads of magic tied the curse together and unraveling them. Easy enough provided you avoided the curses effect, which could range from making you sneeze to melting your bones. If it was a curse, she could focus on breaking it while the other three protected her from the more aggressive effects.

Oh course, she had to admit that it was more likely to be a fight. That tended to be what the Fairies found wherever they went. That would be bad, but not insurmountable. Like Goku had just reminded her, every single being on the planet had some sort of weakness. While she didn't know her opponent's, the bluenette did know the weaknesses of her friends. Different scenarios were playing through her head as she mixed and matched the team, trying to determine the best possible plan and tactics they could implement with what they had available to them. Erza was a walking tank combined with an arsenal of offensive magic. However her ranged game was rather limited and her mobility depended largely on what armor she was using. Overall she had the best, most diverse combat oriented skillset of the group, however each one of her suits had its own weakness to go with the boosted strengths. She also had a tactical mind that would be vastly helpful when confronting an overwhelmingly stronger opponent.

Goku was better at a range than Erza, however his close quarter's game was less lethal than that of his scarlet haired friend. His energy blasts made up for that though, the Kamehameha was likely the single most powerful attack the group had to offer. His agility was the best of the group, with the only possible contender being Erza's Flight Armor. Goku also had the most obvious weakness though, that being his tail. A single unfortunate hit would be all it would take to expose it, and then the teen would be severely hindered up close. Plus, despite his vast improvement, he was still lacking in the ability to think tactically as a team. She could tell he still had trouble to resist charging in and attacking whatever it was that he was sensing.

Gray and Levy shared a flaw; they were lacking in close range fighting. However this issue was far less noticeable with Gray, as he could summon a wide array of weapons to aid him and his body was far more physically strong then hers. Gray was likely the strongest of the ranged fighters of the group thanks to his superior versatility when compared to Goku, and he was the best at keeping his cool in a fight.

As for Levy herself, the bluenette had admitted to herself long ago that she did not have a magic well suited for a drawn out battle. As Goku had found in their training sessions, her stamina would never be able to match that of many of the other wizards in the guild. On top of that, the majority of her strongest spells took time to use, she would have to write out the word to give it life. The spells that she could use instantly were a lot weaker, generally just stalling tricks more than anything else. Thankfully that was not the limit of her arsenal. She still had the 'extra' training skills that Goku had forced into her to fall back on, to say nothing of her trump card.

Since she couldn't predict exactly what they would be going up against, she was comparing the group to the next best thing, Gildarts himself. To her quiet amazement, it looked like they could actually win. They would need to fight strategically and avoid a slugfest with him, but more often than not they could win. That, more than anything else, gave her hope that they would survive.

There were tons of ways that this could end. Lots of them horrible, but… Levy grinned to herself. Being too stubborn to realize you don't stand a chance is how Fairy Tail usually won.

"I believe it is time we investigate the mountain." Erza's tone was harsh and brokered no compromise whatsoever. Goku looked towards the peak in silent approval, but Levy was in disagreement.

"Why would we head that way? You said you saw the village in this direction right? We need to keep going, it's our best chance of finding Gray!"

"Gray is not one to wait around for us to find him. He will undoubtedly be looking into the disturbance himself by now, and he is completely unaware of the danger that he is in. The mountain is the center most location of the island, as well as its biggest feature. The chances are good that somewhere on that mountain our opponent is working to complete his scheme, and it is equally likely that Gray would pick that mountain as his destination. So we shall go there, and we shall do our best to assist him if he has gotten himself into danger. Then we will retreat to the village to gather information." Levy saw the determination in the red head's eyes and just gave a soft nod.

"Alright then, let's go find him."  
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"Alright guys, I'll give you one chance to leave. You either walk down the path now, or I'll knock you down it." Gray was surrounded, over fifty armed men and woman dressed in cloaks cut off any possible path of escape. They were equipped with a variety of weapons, ranging from pickaxes to swords and sledgehammers, and one man in the back was carrying a very large fish. The mob ignored Gray's comment and began moving in, ready to rip him limb from limb.

"Well, I warned you. **ICE MAKE: GLACIER!**" Gray's hand slammed into the ground, summoning a massive ice structure that burst out towards the attackers. Suddenly more than half of the force found themselves frozen up to their necks, leaving them completely helpless. The few that managed to jump clear in time quickly fled, now realizing just how horrendously outmatched they were. Gray carefully stepped his way over his captives and continued on, walking the last couple of meters to reach the peak.

That was when the giant rat tried to eat him.

Gray barely dodged to the side in time to avoid the jaws snapping closed on his throat. He moved his hands to blast the creature back but before he could fire he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. An icy shield popped into existence, and a man, whose face was oddly reminiscent of a dog's, slammed against it. Another shield flared into existence a second later to block the rat as it came around once more. As the rat was deflected once more Gray expanded the shields to cover his head, blocking an energy blast from above. A young woman attacked next, launching a glob of jelly towards the ice mage. The goo burst on impact, scattering all over the ice and the ground around it. The woman smiled brightly when she saw the acid begin to smoke on the ground, but it turned into a scowl when she saw that the concoction had frozen solid upon contact with the barrier. The three humans and the monstrous mammal circled the teen, launching random attacks from every angle that kept him trapped and on the defensive. Eventually Gray cocooned himself in entirely, creating a massive icy dome over himself.

Not giving him a chance to breath, the group started hacking at the barrier. A bead of sweat rolled down Gray's face from the effort of continuously holding off the assault and his breathing was becoming labored. As his opponents closed, Gray smirked.

_Gray had challenged Goku for the eighth time, and more so than any time in the past he was confident in his ability to win. Whenever the two fought Goku would find a method for victory and then keep using it until Gray found a way around it, upon which he would immediately switch to a new move. This time though, Gray figured that he could take his friend down before he got the chance to change tactics. _

_Goku rushed head on like he always did, vanishing in a burst of speed the instant Gray tried to attack. A series of afterimages surrounded the shirtless boy, each sporting a different stance as though they were preparing to attack. Gray knew better though. He swung his body sideways just in time to dodge a punch to the back of the head and fired off a single attack in the same moment. _

"_**ICE MAKE: COLD SNAP!" **__A single icicle crashed against the arm that Goku rose to block, and that was all Gray needed. Rather than shattering like his normal ice, it spread rapidly across Goku's entire body, covering everything except for his head in a two feet thick sheet of ice in no more than three seconds. The spiky haired teen blinked bewilderedly from where he was pinned and cracked his friend a wide smile. _

"_Alright Gray, I'm stuck. I guess you win that one!" _

It had been the very first original move that Gray had ever created, formed out of an overpowering desire to improve and reach the level of his friends. Compared to that moment as a kid though, Gray had only improved upon what he had made.

"**ICE MAKE: DEEP FREEZE!" **The ice dome shattered in to dozens of icicle spears that shot off like rockets, detonating upon impact with anything they touched. All four of Gray's attackers were hit along with the rest of the rocky landscape, and in a single moment Gray had turned the tropical island mountain into a Himalayan peak. The Fairy Tail mage looked around satisfied at his work, experimentally poking at the statue of the startled woman, left perfectly in stasis within her prison.

"I have to say Gray, you've surprised me with how much you've improved. Of course, it is still nothing compared to what I am capable now." Gray's head whipped around to see a masked figure approaching, however as he closed the distance he revealed his face to the stunned teen.

"Lyon? What the hell are you doing here? Are you behind that weird curse that hit the village?"

"A curse on the village? I know nothing of that, I haven't even interacted with any of the villagers since arriving on this island. Kind of surprising actually now that I think about it. We haven't really been hiding our presence, and the light of the Moon Drip Ritual can be seen from anywhere on the island. Is that why you are here then, someone hired you to help the villagers?"

"Yeah that's right. Now what the hell's a Moon Drip Ritual? Can that be what is turning the villagers into demons?"

"Turning them into demons? Jeez, I might need to do some more research on this place when I'm done, imagine the damage someone could cause with a spell that randomly turned people into demons. No, I'm here for one demon in particular, one that you are quite intimately familiar with. I mean, how could you possibly forget the creature that destroyed both your village and killed our beloved master?"

"Deliora? What's going on Lyon, what are you doing on this island?"

"Well you see, the Moon Drip Ritual can reverse the effects of any magic, and this island is the best possible place to preform it. You know of my goal, it has always been my greatest desire to surpass Ur and become the greatest ice mage to ever live! But because of you, I lost that chance. Ur is dead, and I will never know whether I could surpass her or not. At least, that was what I thought. But then I realized there was still one way that I could surpass her. I would have to accomplish the one thing she couldn't! I need to defeat Deliora!"

"Defeat…? Are you insane? We tried that remember? All three of us went after that thing right after it killed every other mage in that city and we didn't even phase it! Now you're telling me that you want to undo Ur's victory, her sacrifice, just in some petty attempt at satisfying your own ego?! Deloria will level this island and everyone on it, we wouldn't stand a chance! Once it gets free, how long will it be loose this time? How much damage will it cause? Everything that it does will be on you! Every corpse, every broken family, every shattered city, they'll all be on your head! Like hell I'm going to let that happen! I'll stop you if I have to kill you myself!"

"That's a bold claim. Can you really back it up though? You know I'm stronger than you, I always have been. Now since leaving your presence I have grown in leaps and bounds, and I have at long last surpassed Ur!"

"Bullshit, neither of us are anywhere close to the level Ur was. We couldn't compare to her then and we still can't now. Maybe if you got your head out of your ass and put your ego down for a second you could figure that out yourself."

"It doesn't matter now Gray, tonight is the night! Three years ago I had Deliora moved inside of this mountain for the ritual, and tonight's full moon shall finally give me the last bit of power needed to undo Ur's ice shell."

"NO LYON! You can't undo that magic! That's not Ur's ice, its Ur herself! She turned her body into a prison to contain Deliora, if you release him then you'll kill her!"

"Ur's already dead! She's been dead for years and it's all your fault! She died because you didn't listen to her, and you made her sacrifice herself. Your just deluding yourself because you want to dodge the guilt of knowing you are responsible to what happened to our teacher! But don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery right now! **THAW!" **With a snap of his fingers Lyon sent out a wave of magic that spread out over the entire peak. The ice that covered everything vanished just as quickly as Gray had made it appear, revealing Lyon's formerly entrapped followers.

"It's been nice catching up Gray, but it's time to finish you off. I'd like you out of the way before the moon comes up, so that we won't have any distractions. Say hello to Ur for me!" Once more Lyon's lackeys charged forwards, only to be forced back as a beam of blue light suddenly carved a giant trench between them and their target. Gray looked off to the side with a smile, the Calvary had come. Goku walked out onto the peak, the two girls flanking him on either side.

"You know, five on one isn't a fair fight. So you'll have to excuse us for cutting in."

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Sturm and Drang: Hey! Another Omake. Neat.

**Monstrous moon.**

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Goku launched himself at his opponent, throwing all his weight into a single punch. His foe easily sidestepped though, and a moment later Goku felt a sharp rap on the back of his head. The blow, combined with his momentum sent him tumbling head over heels.

He landed hard on his back, sending the air rushing out of his lungs. He gasped for breath as his foe stood over him.

"I think that is enough." the man stated, folding his arms behind his back and straightening up.

"But grandpa, I almost had you that time!"

"No you didn't." Gohan chuckled, reaching down to help the boy to his feet. "You're still twenty years too early to think about beating me. Now come, it's time to call it a night."

"I want to keep going!"

"But I don't. It will be getting dark by the time we get back and I'm hungry." The mention of hunger set Goku's stomach rumbling, causing him to scowl at the older man's grin.

"Fine." the pair set off, moving down the familiar mountain trails. Goku breathed in the mountain air as they walked. He loved it up here, the cool winds blowing through his hair, the birds singing and flying all around unseen, and the way the land stretched out below the mountain, as though he could leap off the various cliffs and land wherever he wanted. It was such a peaceful place.

Now, if he could just land a hit on grandpa, life would be perfect.

Gohan glanced up at the sky; the sun was beginning to set. They needed to pick up the pace.

"Goku, I bet I can beat you back to house."

"No way!" Goku broke into a run, with Gohan trailing behind with a smile.

The pair blitz downed the trails, leaping over the streams and running down the hills until they reached the shack. Goku put on a burst of speed and leapt, slamming the door open and sailing through.

"Ha! I win." he declared as Gohan walked in behind him, shutting the door gently.

"Well done." Gohan smiled, glancing through the window just in time to see the sun slip beneath the horizon. He smiled with relief and closed the blinds,

"Grandpa?"

"Yes, my boy?"

"Why do you want to be back at the house before dark? Didn't say you would train me to fight in the dark?"

Gohan chuckled, patting the boy on his head. "And I will Goku, but not tonight. It's a full moon tonight. Remember what I've told you."

"Oh yeah… the monster of the mountain."

"Yes." Grandpa started to hum to himself, reciting that little rhyme of his. "Beware, beware, the monster's out there. When the full moon sends out its heavenly light,"

"Close the door and shut out the night." Goku finished, sighing. "But grandpa, if it's so dangerous, why don't you beat it up. I've seen you beat every other monster that lives around here, they can't even touch you."

"This monster is not like the dinosaurs we hunt, Goku. It is best left alone. Now, I'm going to go collect some fish for dinner. You stay here, and do not leave the house, nor look outside. If the monster sees you, it will eat you."

"How come you get to go outside?" Goku whined, arms crossed.

"Because I'm strong enough to escape the monster." Gohan opened the door and left. "I'll be back in an hour." He shut the door, leaving Goku inside.

Goku sighed, flopping down on his sleeping mat. It wasn't fair, he was strong. He beat up one of the spiky dinosaurs all by himself just the other day. So why didn't Grandpa think he could handle this monster? He wouldn't even say what it looked like! Gou's tail started twitching as he frowned to himself. He wasn't sure this monster was even real. He'd explored every inch of the mountain and never found a single sign of any mysterious monster, and he'd stay up on full moon nights, listening. But he never heard anything unusual. No roars or screams that he didn't recognize. If there actually was a monster, it had to be really quiet.

Or it didn't actually exist.

Goku glanced at the door. Grandpa had only been gone for a few minutes, it would take him at least twenty to get to the stream, get the fish, and then haul them back here. Plenty of time for someone to go outside for a minute to go to the bathroom or something, and if that person just so happened to spot a monster… well they'd have to defend themselves wouldn't they?

And if he didn't see anything, grandpa would never have to know.

Goku grinned to himself. This was a great plan. He slowly eased the door open and peeked outside. No grandpa in sight and a monster hadn't ripped off his face either. So far, so good. He opened it further and slipped outside, pausing for a moment to enjoy the cool night air.

It was pretty cloudy out, so it was kind of hard to see very far. Goku focused, trying to see if he could hear anything out of the ordinary. Crickets chirping, the occasional nighttime birdsong, the hoot of an owl but nothing unusual. Just normal mountain sounds. Suddenly the clouds parted, flooding the area with moonlight. Goku grinned at the sudden bright light.

And looked up.

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Gohan hauled the third fish out of the stream, it was twice his size and struggled desperately in his grasp. The marital artist merely tightened his grip and raised his fist to dispatch it. Then he froze as a sudden roar shook the mountain. The fish wriggled out of his numb grip and splashed back into the water as the martial artist gazed in horror towards the source of the roar.

"Goku."

Gohan blitzed back towards the cabin, snarling at his own stupidity. Telling Goku he couldn't handle something was like inviting him to try. He knew this. He shook his head again. There was no point worrying about that now, he needed to deal stop Goku before he destroyed the mountain. Gohan steeled himself as the shack came into view.

The giant hairy monkey that towered against the skyline, shaking the Earth with each stop it took. Goku was beating his chest as he roared his fury to the heavens. Gohan sighed, and closed his eyes.

This was going to be difficult.

The roaring stopped. The Giant monkey had spotted him and fallen silent, regarding the old man with a quizzical look. For a moment Gohan hope soared, If Goku recognized him… then maybe…

But it wasn't to be. The monsters eyes began to burn with rage and it threw itself at him, its renewed roars splitting the night sky. Gohan leapt into the air and ran up the monster's arm. Goku was far too big for any normal methods. But it was not hopeless. Everything had a weak point. He dodged around the groping hand and reached the monkeys shoulder.

The martial artist launched himself at the monstrous face, channeled his ki into his fist, and slammed it into the beasts lower jaw. The punch created a shockwave the shook the trees for miles around, causing the beast's head to snap to the side. Gohan landed lightly on his feet and eyed the monster. Goku was swaying drunkenly.

It didn't matter how big you were, if your head jerked hard enough, the brain would rock within the skull.

The monkey shook its head a few more times and snapped its eyes back to him, looking angrier than ever. Gohan sighed, Goku had always possessed a hard head. He leapt aside as the monster lunged desperately trying to grab onto the nimbler martial artist, sending chunks of the mountainside flying into the air with every miss.

The few other hits Gohan had been able to get in had been shaken off, and Goku was being more wary, not letting the martial artist get anywhere near his head. It was just too much, Gohan couldn't let Goku rampage any longer.

There was only one option left.

When Goku lunged once more Gohan leapt aside, causing Goku to stumble. Gohan lunged and slammed into the monkey's leg causing tripping it to the ground. Goku fell heavily roaring with rage all the way. The martial artist stepped backwards and put his hands together, tightening his focus.

"Ka."

Goku roared once more, his rage soaring to even greater heights.

"Me."

The monkey forced itself to its feet, turning to squash the little fighter that was infuriating it so.

"Ha."

Light began to gather in the martial artists hands, the monkey stopped, mesmerized at the familiar light.

"Me."

Gohan paused, looking up at the transfixed monkey. This would kill Goku. He knew it would, but it had to be done. Goku was dangerous when he was like this, he could level entire cities with ease. But… he was just standing there looking for all the world like he did whenever he was shown a new fighting technique.

Goku, his son, was watching in wonder, as his grandfather prepared to kill him.

"…No."

Gohan closed his eyes. As the light began to fade from his hands, he couldn't finish it, he just couldn't. The monster stirred, the spell of the light broken.

The monster struck.

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Goku groaned, opening his eyes to the morning sun. He got to his feet and stretched, his body felt so tired for some reason, especially his jaw. He looked around.

"Woah! What happened here?" he was sitting naked in the bottom of a crater. He crawled up the side and pulled himself over the edge, groaning as he moved. He was surrounded by a swathe of destruction, broken trees, shattered rocks and pulverized animals were scattered everywhere.

"What the heck happened last night?" Goku asked, scratching his head. He remembered going outside, trying to spot the full moon monster…

The monster.

It must have attacked him; it was the only thing that made sense. But… where was grandpa? Goku looked around, he could see a trail of destruction cutting back across the mountains towards…

The house!

Goku was off like a bullet, jumping crater, broken trees, and ravines as he hurried back home. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the house was intact, despite the concentrated amount of destruction around it. But… where was grandpa?

Goku stumbled over a scrap of cloth. He picked it up for closer inspection and froze… the symbol. This was part of Grandpa's gi! It was ragged and torn, but he'd recognize it anywhere. Goku tried to push down an unsettling feeling as he searched for the rest.

Grandpa was fine. He had to be. He probably met the monster, but he would be able to handle it. If he couldn't, why would he be willing to go out on the full moon nights? Goku began to move faster desperately searching each of the craters.

He froze. At the bottom of one of them, he could see a pile red and scraps of cloth.

"GRANDPA!"

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Goku tied the scrap of clothing around the stick. He didn't really know what else to do. He couldn't bear to move what was left of his grandpa, so he just filled in the hole with dirt.

Goku pressed his head against the lonely stick marking the grave of the world's greatest martial artist.

"I swear Grandpa." Goku whispered, tears sprinkling the ground beneath him. "I'll keep training until I'm the strongest there ever was."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE BATTLE OF GALUNA ARC BEGINS, AND THE MAGES SQUARE OFF. BUT AN UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION OCCURS, AND THE DEMON BREAKS LOOSE! WILL OUR HEROES BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE FULL MIGHT OF ONE OF ZEREF'S MIGHTIEST DEMONS? CAN GRAY UPHOLD HIS TEACHER'S LEGACY? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: DELIORA REBORN!

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The first episode of Dragon Ball Super aired on my birthday, and Beerus blew up another planet! Goku was a farmer! Hercule had a butt load of money! EXCITEMENT!


	14. Deliora Reborn

AN: Alright two things before we get into it. First, hi! I'm alive despite not updating for a while. Work sucks, enough said. Second, people have been asking about what abilities Goku will have. Super Saiyan is still up in the air, however I'm going to be giving Goku most of his own techniques as well as one techniques from each of his main friends. So far that means Tien's Solar Flare and Krillin's Destructo Disc. That leaves Yamcha, Piccolo, and Vegeta. What techniques will those three be giving? Well Yamcha only has one real technique besides the Wolf Fang Fist and it's going to be in this chapter so no surprises there. As for Piccolo and Vegeta, I'll be using my favorite attack from each of them. I think that was everything… oh wait! Terminator Genysis and Ant Man were awesome, go watch them. Southpaw was less so, it seemed like 8 Mile and Rocky 3 had a love child. I was less than impressed. There we go, on with the chapter!

P.S: I'm assuming you know all of Lyon's helpers spells and abilities so they aren't going to explain their powers mid fight like they normally would. Because that's stupid.

**Chapter 14: Deliora Reborn**

"Gray, did you really need to bring your friends along for our reunion? They are getting in the way." Gray rolled his eyes as his friends lined up beside him, facing off with Lyon's group.

"If that's the case then why did you bring in your own band of idiots? Do they serve a purpose or did you just want an audience for when Deliora destroys you?"

"I suppose some introductions might be in order. My allies beside me are Sherry and her rat Angelica, Yuka, and Toby. As for your friends, I believe I recognize a few of them. If what I have read in the papers is correct the one in orange is Son Goku, and the red head in the rather sensual armor can only be the Titania, Erza Scarlet." Levy eyed Erza's Blackwing Armor and had to admit that the guy had a point. The armor really didn't leave much to the imagination.

"I can't remember the blue haired one all that well… isn't she some kind of book mage? Leroy or something like that?"

"Seriously? I'm the leader of Fairy Tail's Shadowgear-"

"Isn't that Fairy Tail's weakest team? Really Gray, were you just scrapping from the bottom of the barrel to come here? Your friends are weak, just like your guild is weak. Because you joined you will never be able to reach my level, Ur's level!"

"My guild has made me strong! I wouldn't be where I am today without them there to help me!"

"Your guild made you strong did it? Did it make you strong enough to overcome the height of your past failures? You rushed in when Ur told you that you weren't ready. It is because of you she had to sacrifice herself, she died because you were too much of a fool to listen. You might as well have committed the deed yourself! Do your friends know of your past, did you ever tell them what you did? Are you going to bring about their doom, just like you did before? I believe you already have… by end of the day Deliora will rise once more only to destroyed by my hands and you'll join the monster in hell for what you've done!"

Gray's face had grown paler over the course of Lyon's speech, years of self-doubt and blame were thrust upon him all at once and his breath hitched in his chest. As much as he wanted to deny it, there was truth to some of Lyon's words. It was his fault that Ur had to sacrifice herself to stop the demon, it was because of his actions that she died.

But he would kill himself before he let Lyon desecrate her memory and undo the good of her sacrifice.

"You guys take out his pals and keep that ritual from happening. Lyon and I are going to try and figure out which one of us is the strongest of Ur's students." Erza smirked and flared her wings. She charged forwards and snagged Toby off his feet, lifting him up into the air and out over the ocean.

"I believe hygiene is very important, even for dogs. So I shall be giving you a bath!" Erza went to drop the man who just smiled dumbly at her as she released him. However as he fell Toby extended his claw and left a small red cut straight down her exposed stomach. Erza snarled as she watched the furred man fall away but put her annoyance behind her as she made to turn back towards the mountain. But before she even had the opportunity to complete her spin she suddenly felt her muscles freeze up. Her entire body felt like it was made from stone and it was getting harder and harder to breath. She looked desperately over towards the mountain top where she had left her friends before she fell down towards the water.

Goku watched in shock as his friend suddenly started plummeting out of the sky. He was too far away to save her even with the power pole so he called on the only chance he had.

"NIMBUS! SAVE ERZA!" On command the little yellow cloud burst onto the scene. For hours it had been circling the island and searching for a way out of the dome, but now it was needed. It rocketed over the island fast enough to shatter trees and positioned itself perfectly to catch Erza, rapidly slowing to avoid injuring her. But then Erza passed right through the cloud. The Faires couldn't do anything but watch in shock as their friend splashed down.

"But…she should be able to land on it. She rode on it before…" Goku couldn't tear his eyes away from the ripples in the water, desperately hoping that his friend would reemerge.

"Goku…when was the last time Erza rode on Nimbus?"

"It was right after I first got it, she said she preferred flying under her own power. But the only way it wouldn't catch her is if she was hiding something from us…"

"I really wouldn't be worrying about that right now." Yuka cut in, advancing side by side with Sherry and her rat towards the two teens. "I would be worrying about us!" The rat jumped towards Levy who barely managed to dodge away from the attack in time. Yuka formed an energy sphere around himself and charged towards Goku like a linebacker going for the tackle. Goku shot the power pole outwards, but the second it made contact with the bubble it stopped and shrank back as the bubble drew closer. Goku didn't have time to try and counter before the teen knocked into him, causing him to stumble back.

"Fool! My Wave magic nullifies all other magic. No mage or magical device can stand up to me." Goku cocked his head to the side and grinned.

"Hey Levy! Catch!" he flicked the power pole towards his friend who only just managed to snag it out of the air while rolling out from underneath another of the rat's body slams.

She wanted to yell at him for throwing stuff at her but the rat snapped at her with incisors as big as she was. She leapt back and smacked the staff down on the tip of the animal's nose. It jerked back, looking a lot more angry than hurt. The rat snarled at her and Levy decided that it was time for a tactical retreat.

She quickly wrote the word 'Fast' on her legs and zipped down the mountain trail with Sherry and Angelica hot on her heels.

At the same time Goku had charged straight at Yuka, completely undeterred by the nullification field. Yuka eyes' widened as Goku suddenly appeared before him and then a powerful punch drilled him straight in the gut. Yuka let out a coughing grunt before he collapsed, struggling to breath. Goku stepped away from his down opponent and looked around for his next target. Levy and her opponents were already out of sight but Gray and Lyon were beginning their clash and Gray seemed to be outmatched. Goku made to make his way over towards the battle when suddenly a voice sudden from a mere hands width from his ear.

"You really shouldn't interrupt a dramatic fight between rivals like that." Before Goku could react the floor beneath him turned to dust and he fell into darkness.

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Toby slogged his way onto the shore, grinning dumbly despite the dead weight on his back. The animalistic man looked around the shore for a few seconds before tossing his red haired load onto the beach. That would keep her out of the way and no one would ever know he'd been given a bath against his will. He looked up towards the mountain top, now alight with flashes of magic that hinted of the battle taking place. The dumb smile never leaving his face; Toby headed back up the mountain path so that he could complete his duty.

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"Must go faster, must go faster" Levy kept repeating to herself as she fled from the massive, snarling monster behind her. Sherry rode on the beast's back, laughing manically as she charged down the bluenette. Levy was constantly weaving in and out of trees and throwing herself over debris, taking the most cluttered routes to try and slow up the giant creature.

The rat barreled through completely unheeded, gaining ground with every step.

This was not a good situation. Over the course of the last 24 hours she had been forced to maintain her magical chains for several hours at sea, fight for survival in a storm, and hike all across an island for hours on end. Her energy was really starting to flag.

Now, on top of everything else, she had to deal with a house-sized rat. Of all things, it just had to be a giant rat.

She needed to slow it down somehow. Might as well try something simple first.

"Solid Script: BRICKS!" Levy flung her hand out behind her and a towering wall of text flared into existence behind her. Sherry grinned atop her perch and pushed the rat onwards, smashing her way through the barrier like cardboard.

Okay, new plan.

"Solid Script: DUST!" a cloud of tiny gray words whirled into the air behind her. The rat charged through this as well, but instead of brushing it aside, the floating text burst into particles that got into the rats eyes and nose. The beast shrieked in rage as it was blinded, and stumbled for a brief moment, causing it to shriek in rage as it was blinded. Levy risked a glance back and saw that the Rat was no longer looking where it was going; it was only following her based on Sherry's directions.

Now she had a plan.

She continued to run down the path, with Sherry's screaming following her all the way. She was burning through her magic at a dangerous pace as she ran, throwing up more barriers and walls of dust to try and keep her pursuers off as long as possible. She could feel the energy in the words on her legs dissipating; she was slowing down and didn't have enough energy to write more. The rats pounding footsteps were growing closer as her speed began to wane, but right as they gave out completely she reached her destination.

The cliff.

With a cry Levy hurled herself off the edge of the rocks, hanging in the air for a brief moment before plummeting to the beach far below. Behind her Angelica, driven on by Sherry infuriated screams, sensed no reason to stop. Only a handful of seconds after Levy's jump the pair reached the cliff's edge and sailed right over.

The startled scream of the young woman almost completely drowned out Levy's own cry of "Power Pole extend!" The girl rocketed back up the cliff, passing the falling duo in midair and coming to a stumbling stop right in the same place she had leapt from. With a weary sigh Levy fell to her knees and began gasping for air. She barely had enough in her for more than a few basic spells, her endurance was nearly at its limit.

Levy was pulled out of her tired stupor by a strange thrumming noise that filled the air. She peered down over the ledge and was greeted by one of the most bizarre sights she had ever witnessed in her entire life.

The rat was flying.

The thing's tail was spinning so fast it was actually creating upward lift, bringing the monster and its rider right back up towards the exhausted mage.

Levy just stared, unable to find the words.

"You're in for it now Bluehead!" Sherry shrieked, her hair in disarray as she clung to the giant rat, "Angelica is going to eat you alive."

Levy just shook her head and decided enough was enough. She had wanted to save it for when things were truly desperate, but this was just too stupid to deal with any longer. It was time for her trump card.

Groaning in annoyance, she reached for her special scarlet quill she kept in her hairband. She held the feather delicately in her hand and placed a fingertip on the feather. With a single flick of her finger, she poured a spark of magic into the quill.

"Primal Scripture: Awaken."

With only the slightest of hesitation the quill erupted.

The magically charged feather shot into the air, wreathing itself in flame and taking the form of a fiery bird. The bird glared at the flying rat like an angry sun. It shrieked and rushed through the air towards its master's tormentors. With a cry of panic Angelica tried to turn away but alas, a giant flying rat is far too slow for a mythical bird of prey.

The phoenix shot forward and detonated against the rat, knocking the creature back down towards the beach and sending its rider flying through the air. Levy watched the girl disappear somewhere over the tree line before looking back towards where the fiery bird had disappeared.

A single, miniscule feather took form and gently floated its way over towards the bluenette, setting down in her outstretched palm. It would be a week before the quill grew back to its full size so that it may be used again, but for now it had served its purpose. Levy gave one last look down the cliff towards the now unconscious rat before forcing her body to dash back into the woods towards her friends.

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Gray Fullbuster was known around the country as one of the most powerful ice mages alive. Lyon however, was one of the rare few who could challenge him for that title.

"Still relaying on the same old tricks with the static ice make? I'm disappointed Gray, I had expected you to at least make this a challenge for me. I wanted a decent warm-up before I got around to fulfilling my destiny." The pair had started with simple ice blades, dueling back and forth across the mountain top at a vicious pace. Then Lyon had upped the stakes. The ice animals had started small, nothing more than a nuisance snake or small bird to swat aside as they clashed blades. Then the larger animals had gotten involved. Gray had been forced to disengage from his duel with Lyon to fight off ice lions, tigers, and bears as they all tried for his blood.

"**Ice Make: SPIKED FLOOR!" **The animals were skewered from beneath as the ice spread across the mountain top, but before it could get anywhere near Lyon he lazily flicked his hand and the attack stopped cold.

"You have no chance at all Gray, I'm so far above you I don't even need to use both hands."

"You might have the power to pull that off, but I doubt an ass like you could develop the control to really master one handed casting." Gray taunted. Lyon merely smirked in response and flicked his hand once more. Gray's ice floor suddenly came to life, each spike sticking out of the ground changing into a serpent.

**"Ice Make: CANNON!" **Gray managed to get off three shots before a snake tangled around him, squeezing tight. A cry of pain escaped his lips when the first rib popped, escalating in volume with the next two. Icy blades erupted from all over his body, shredding the creature and allowing him to stumble free. Before any more of the snakes could grab a hold of him the blades launched off from his body, neatly slicing each and every one of them in half.

**"Ice Make: EAGLES!" **Twenty birds flew from Lyon's hand, charging head on towards Gray. Too wounded to try and dodge such a fast moving attack, Gray flung his hands out before him.

**"Ice Make: SHIELD!"** A large rectangular block of ice appeared directly in the eagles' path. The first few slammed into the shield, detonating harmlessly on the barrier with no effect. The rest were far enough away to be able to react. The entire flock swerved around the shield and crashed into Gray from every unprotected angle. Gray flew backwards and rolled straight through the whole in the ground that Goku had disappeared into. He landed on floor down, barely missing the second hole that marked the martial artist's decent all the way down into the basement.

Lyon jumped down the whole after his rival, another flock already circling him as they waited to charge. Gray lay on the ground coughing, a trickle of blood working its way down his chin and dripping onto his shirt. As he sat up he noticed the red stain on the fabric and began to laugh.

"Either the guilt of Ur's fate has caught up to you and made you go mad or I'm missing something here. Care to share which?" Lyon was oozing confidence, he was dominating the fight, he had already landed a crippling, and he was still in near peak condition for his fight with Deliora. He could spare a few moments to sate his curiosity before moving on.

"It's funny… for years I've had trouble with losing my clothes, especially during fights. After all my years in Fairy Tail and all of those jobs over the years, I think this the first time I've ever managed to get any blood on the stupid things. After training with you and Ur in the mountains, I guess I just got more comfortable barely wearing anything." Gray reached up and fingered the magic necklace that had been gifted to him some time ago.

"It's always embarrassed me, how I just unconsciously lose my clothes at moment's notice, but it always help me think better, feel more focused. But even without the embarrassment, I still didn't really like to do it just because it reminded me of Ur. You're right, I've felt guilty about what happened to her, and I probably always will. But I've taken what she taught us and used to try and make myself better, I haven't endlessly been chasing after her shadow, that isn't what she would have wanted for either of us! I may still feel guilt for what happened, but I'm not going to let it control me anymore!" With a sharp tug Gray ripped the necklace off his neck, tossing it away.

"Get ready Lyon, cause I'm getting serious now. I'm going to come at you with everything I've got!" The shirt followed the necklace, revealing Gray's Fairy mark for all to see.

"Well said Gray, but we both know how this is going to end!" A twitch of his fingers launched the birds forwards, but this time Gray was ready. He was done letting Lyon control the flow of the fight, done playing defense.

It was time to attack.

**"Ice Make: ARROWS!"**

Each and every bird was met head on with a matching arrow, filling the air with chilling explosions as the two rivals spammed their rapid fire attacks, vying for dominance. After a few moments though, the stalemate broke. Lyon's one handed technique couldn't match the speed of Gray's own magic. The first arrow clipped him in the shoulder, the next the thigh. Then he was bombarded, over a dozen hits connecting and slamming the older ice mage back into the wall. The pale haired mage took a moment to pick himself up, now looking just as battered as his opponent.

He grinned.

"This is what I wanted, a true test of my power before the battle of my life. Now Gray, let's see just what you are capable of!"

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It seemed that whenever Goku fell down a cliff, he always managed to land on his head. He got to his feet right away, stepping away from the crater his cranium had made in the solid stone. His head tingled slightly from the impact but he was able to quickly shake off the distraction to glare upwards at the cloaked figure above him.

"If you wanted to fight so bad, all you had to do was ask." He said, getting a chuckle out of the shadowy figure.

"Maybe, but it was rather amusing watching you pick yourself up out of that hole. Besides, now you get a chance to see what you are fighting to prevent." The figure pointed behind the fighter and Goku turned to see a massive glacier taking up almost half of the room in the cave. Inside the glacier was Deliora.

"It's… it's gigantic! So that's the power I've been sensing since coming here."

"You can sense power? Then you must admit, it is quite the amazing isn't it? I shudder just imaging what that creature will be able to do once I get it under control for my colleagues. One of the strongest ice mages in the world had to convert her body into living ice just to contain the beast, let alone the power it would take to actually kill it. The power to destroy entire cities in moments, with it under our control we will be able to-"

"I don't care."

"…what?"

"I said I don't care." Goku kept a steady gaze on the cloaked man, his face expressionless.

"I don't care what you plan to do, because you won't get the chance to do it. I'll beat you here before then." The shadowy figure scoffed and drew upon his magic. Goku caught movement out of the corner of his eye and raised his hand up just in time to catch a head sized marble orb. With a flex of his hand the sphere exploded into dust and Goku leapt into the air towards his opponent. The hooded man whipped his arm around and before Goku could reach his target the marble reformed and caught him in the back of the head. Goku spun around in midair and landed on his feet, dodging the sphere as it came around for another pass. He fired a tiny ki blast at the stone and reduced it to dust once more, but a moment later it had reformed and flew towards his head.

Goku jumped up into the air to avoid the ball then kicked off the wall to dodge a second time when it swerved up after him. The ball tracked the fighter and changed directions once again and Goku thrust his arm out and caught the projectile in his hand. He turned towards his opponent and whipped the ball directly at him. The marble came to a stop a foot from his concealed head and slowly moved off to the side to hover a yard away.

"You agility is impressive, not many would be able to handle this technique so well."

"It's a good technique, I feel like a hamster in a wheel. No matter how much energy I put out that little ball of yours keeps coming back, and it's fast enough to keep me from coming after you hard enough to stop it. In fact… it's pretty similar to another attack I've been working on. I think you've even given me a few ideas for it. Let's see…" Goku held his arm out before him, his palm twisted up in the air. A yellow sphere, the same size as the marble popped into existence above his hand, buzzing slightly in the air.

"Spirit Ball." Goku thrust two fingers forwards and the ball shot towards the cloaked figure like a bullet. The marble orb moved to intercept but Goku's attack plowed straight through and continued towards its target. The marble orb reformed as fast as possible and shot off towards the spikey haired teen again but the Spirit Ball reached the cloaked figure first, forcing him to dive to the side and cost him control of his own attack. Goku caught the sphere again and launched it back towards its owner. The man brought his hand up to reverse the projectile but before he could the energy attack caught him from behind and knocked him off balance. The man took a few stumbling steps forwards before his marble orb collided with his chest and knocked him hard to the ground.

Goku took advantage and charged in, his fist reared back to smash into his opponent's prone torso. The shadowy figure managed to push himself backwards a short distance, causing the blow to land a bit lower than intended. Goku's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the contact, his face screwing up in confusion. He snagged his opponent by the foot before the man could roll away and moved to confirm his theory.

_Pat-pat_

"Hey, you aren't a guy, you're a woman!" The indignant cry in response shook the mountain and drowned out the cry of startled pain from the martial artist as a large portion of the cavern's ceiling suddenly aged and collapsed atop of him.

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Levy gasped in shock as she came over the peak of the mountain. For sitting in the middle of the plateau was Toby, repeatedly bowing down towards a hole in the mountain top and chanting to himself. A purple glow was descending down from the sky and into the hole in the ground towards whatever monster was down below. She had no idea where her friends had gone and no idea how Toby had gotten back up the mountain before her, but she knew a ritual spell when she saw one. There was no way she could allow it to continue, there was no telling what it would do.

Levy shook her head, none of that mattered now. She may not know what happened to her friends or what the ritual would do, but she did know that she had to at least try to stop it. She rushed towards the man with her magic twirling around her fingers when suddenly a rocky hand burst out of the ground.

The rock swelled beneath her, forming into a rock golem that lifted Levy upside down by the ankle. Behind it Sherry stepped out from her hiding place behind a few boulders, her body scratched up and her clothes and hair littered with twigs and leaves from her fall. Her eyes glowed with her power, the newly animated boulder completely under her control.

"You hurt poor Angelica. You blue haired brute." The older woman's voice was deathly clam as she talked and Levy felt a bead of sweat roll up her forehead and drip down to the stone below her.

"The rat tried to eat me!" she protested weakly, searching wildly for a way out.

"I think you need to be taught a lesson about animal cruelty. To start, let's see if you can survive the same fall that you made my baby go through." Levy struggled fruitlessly as the golem carried her right back towards the cliff edge. Sherry held up a hand and the golem paused in front of her so that she could pluck the power pole off of Levy's back. She looked it over briefly before she carelessly began dragging it behind her.

"That ought to make a nice chew toy for Angelica when she is feeling better. She needs to gnaw her teeth on something to keep them from growing too big, I'd bet she'd love the chance to use something with your scent on it."

"Hey, give that back now! That's not mine, I'm supposed to take care of it!" Levy demanded, curling her legs and grabbing at the Golem's hand and furiously tugging at its fingers.

"I don't think you need to worry about that right now. Instead you should be focused on your upcoming fall. Drop her."

The golem didn't move.

Levy grinned.

Sherry frowned. "I said, drop her off the cliff."

The golem jerked and began to walk backwards, away from the edge.

"Throw her off the cliff right now!" Sherry demanded, throwing up a hand and forcing more of her magic into the rock doll.

The golem gently set Levy on the ground and sat down.

"What did you do, you blue haired brat?"

"The word 'disobedient'. I might not be able to effect the mind of a living being, but I can disrupt a puppet like that no problem."

Sherry screeched in rage, making to fire off her magic into the golem once more. But this time she didn't get the chance as Levy charged, tackling her to the ground. Both girls tumbled back a bit and the Power Pole fell out of Sherry's hands and bounced across the stone. Levy snatched the staff and shot to her feet before turning towards her foe. Sherry got back onto her feet a moment slower than Levy, and that brief moment let Levy get in close.

Levy had always been impressed with the Power Pole and its abilities, it was a brilliant weapon that allowed a close range fighter to land blows from any given distance. When she had talked to Goku about the staff shortly after they had begun their lessons, he had taken it upon himself to teach her the basics on how to use the pole should the need ever arise. These lessons came flooding back now and Levy moved with the practiced ease of a trained fighter.

Opening jab to breach defenses.

Following jab to gut, use to stun.

Twirl staff, slam opposite end into ribs like a bat.

Reverse directions, strike opposite ribs.

Lower aim, jab knee to keep opponent off balance.

Finish with an upward blow to lower jaw, allow foe to fall.

Levy looked down at Sherry's prone form, desperately trying to keep her stomach from rebelling. She had drilled several combos' dozens of times over with her friend, but she had never had to strike out against a live opponent before. Now… she looked down at the wounds she had inflicted. If it had been anyone else in the group that attack would have shattered bones, as it was Sherry would be littered with massive painful and bloody welts for the foreseeable future. Her jaw was especially bad, the impact had rattled her teeth so bad that blood was slowly leaking out of her gums onto the ground around her.

Levy forced herself to turn away and face back towards the still chanting Toby. She couldn't afford to lose it now, not with what was at stake. She made it two steps before a purple glow overtook the mountain and the island reverberated with the roar of Deliora.

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Lyon broke off from his fight with Gray the second everything flashed purple. Before the following roar had finished echoing off the walls he had already jumped down the remaining distance and entered the cave to face off with his greatest challenge.

Gray was quick to follow his fellow ice mage down into the cavern, though all thoughts off battling the white haired mage had already gone out the window. This was the creature that had killed their master, whatever differences they might have had were nothing compared to the threat it posed.

The first thing that Gray saw as he entered the cave was Goku pulling himself back to his feet and tucking something into the belt around his gi. Then his eyes landed upon the monster. It seemed bigger than what he remembered as a kid, the passing of time having allowed the monster to fade somewhat from his nightmares. But now the titan seemed bigger than ever, vast and terrible as it roared in triumph. Gray knew just what that meant. It would take an absolute miracle for any of them to make it off the island alive… unless the creature could be sealed again.

Lyon marched across the cave with his back straight and his shoulders square, giving no signs of trouble despite the injuries Gray had managed to inflict upon him. As Deliora turned its massive head to look upon the tiny figure approaching it, Lyon raised his hand.

**"Ice Make: SNOW DRAGON!"** Gray allowed himself a brief glimmer of hope, at the very least Lyon was showing how seriously he was taking this, opening with his most powerful attack right off the back. The icy serpentine structure slammed full on into his opponent and the cave's occupants just watched in startled surprise as massive cracks began to form all over the creature's body. For a brief moment they believed that he had done it, that he had truly surpassed Ur and had defeated the creature. Then it inhaled.

Around the island the purple energies of the Moon Drip Ritual suddenly flared to life, covering the entire area in a massive dome. Then the dome began to collapse in on itself, focusing on a single point. In the demon village there was sudden rejoicing as the curse upon them lifted and they suddenly found themselves with their memories restored. Inside the mountain though, there was nothing but terror as Deliora returned to its true power.

"No… this can't be. I've surpassed Ur, I'm stronger than it… this has to be a dream…" Lyon murmured, despairing as the demon's presence grew ever stronger. Finally, after all this time, he realized just how outmatched he truly was. Now though he could do nothing but watch in frozen shock as he was shown just how far behind he was.

"It's unreal…" Goku said, stepping back unsteadily as the waves of power rolled off of the demon. With the additional power of the Moon Drip the monster was only stronger, surpassing even Gildarts now in terms of raw power. The cracks on the monster's body mended themselves, while inside the monster the same magic was restoring every last organ and artery to its former glory before the years of wasting away.

"We have to stop it now before it can reach its full strength!" Gray watched on as Goku cupped his hands beside his hip, his tail flailing widely in anticipation behind him. The familiar whine of gathering energy filled the cave and the walls were all bathed in an eerie blue glow.

"Super Kamehameha!" Unlike the regular Kamehameha, the Super variant contained Goku's full power, the teen holding nothing back as the attack enveloped the demon and the wall behind him, vaporizing the stone and firing straight upwards into the night sky. When the blinding light faded away, Deliora stood unfazed.

Gray knew what the failed attack meant, that technique was one of the strongest moves any of them had in their arsenals. If it couldn't even begin to damage the demon, then none of them had any chance. With a snarl Gray stepped forward and assumed the stance his teacher had so many years ago. Icy winds began to blow around his body as the energy gathered and once more the walls were bathed in blue. This time though, Deliora reacted. The creature remembered a similar light from years before, the last thing it had seen before being sealed away.

The reaction was violent.

Gray watched in slow motion as the monster's arm swung towards him, and even as his power coursed through him, he knew that he would be too slow. There was no time, long before the Iced Shell had a chance to fire, he would be dead. Gray struggled to make peace with his impending demise as he watched his brief life flash before him when an orange blur took off. Goku slammed Gray aside, knocking him out of his stance and dissipating his energy into the air. Gray had enough time to see the flicker of a sad smile on his friend's face before the fist slammed into him. Goku was launched like a rag doll straight through the cave wall with an audible crunch and vanished into the foliage. Gray's mouth worked noiselessly from the ground where Goku had pushed him, unable to believe that once more a friend had to sacrifice themselves to save him from the creature that had killed his family. Once more, he had failed.

Gray was drawn out of his inner despair when a piercing, anguished cry called out from above and an angry scarlet missile slammed down into the demonic being.

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Goku was dying.

More of his bones were broken than not and he was sure that at least some of his organs had ruptured from the impact. His blood stained the ground around him, staining dirt and leaves alike in dark crimson.

His greatest regret he figured, was that he wouldn't be able to see the dragon from when his friends collected all of the balls. He knew that even with him gone they would continue their work, and it was more than likely that a new wish would be formed, one that included him in its resurrection. But then the balls would be gone and he wouldn't have gotten a chance to see what came out from them.

_Well…_ Goku thought to himself. _At least I'll be able to see Lisanna. I'll even let her know what the rest of the guild is doing for her, I bet she'll be real surprised!_ Goku gurgled out a bloody chuckle from his throat as he looked up into the sky. The last few clouds were slowly moving away, leaving the full moon in all its brilliance.

_The full moon… it sure is pretty. I don't think I've seen it since Grandpa… since Grandpa… Grandpa…_

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! YOU ALL KNOW WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT! MONSTERS CLASH, BLOOD WILL BE SHED, AND A FRIENDSHIP WILL BE SHAKEN TO THE CORE. CAN THE FAIRES HANDLE THE CLOSING CHAPTER OF THE GALUNA ARC? FIND OUT NEXT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: OOZARU!


	15. Oozaru

AN: About a year ago, I was trying to figure out what my next fight would be for my story Superhuman Fight Club. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to do a giant monster battle, and the first monster that popped into my head was the Oozaru. I spent a while trying to think up what would be a good matchup for the thing, but I couldn't come up with anything that would be very fair. I was just wracking my brain for any sort of monster until I eventually thought of Deliora. With that decided, I started thinking up a scenario for how they would meet to do battle, but the backstory kept building and building and building until eventually I thought to myself, I think I figured out what my next project is going to be. A bit of fine tuning and suddenly Escalation was born. So you have this chapter, and this entire story, thanks to my barely acknowledged collection of Deadliest Warrior one-shots. Funny how that works out sometimes isn't it?

Alright guys and gals, you people have been requesting this for ages, basically since the story began. I'd say that at least twenty of the reviews I've gotten so far for this story have all but begged me for it, so here it is. I'm hoping all of you guys who asked for this will be dropping a review at the end of the chapter to let me know if it was everything you hoped for. Now though, it's time for:

**Chapter 15: Oozaru**

**(Alternate Title: King Kong…Ain't Got Shit…On ME!)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing here. **

Erza coughed up a lungful of water onto the sand as she struggled back to her feet, forcing her body to fight through the waning effects of the paralytic venom. She breathed deeply for a minute before resolving to skin toby. The furry man's tracks were still visible in the sand, leading up towards the mountain. But before she had a chance to even start her pursuit, an ear splitting roar shook the island, drawing her attention up towards the mountain's peak.

It sounded…big. Certainly something that would require her immediate attention.

Ignoring the remaining protests from her limbs Erza took off into the sky, changing from her Black Wing Armor into the Heaven's Wheel Armor as she gained altitude. She rocketed through the air and reached the summit in seconds.

The first thing Erza saw was Toby, hopping back up from the ground where he had tumbled in surprise at the sound of the demon's resurrection. Erza took a quick detour, to bash him in the back of the head before pressing on towards the entrance of the monster's cave.

She arrived just in time to hear the cry of "Super Kamehameha!" With only moments to spare, she threw her body backwards out of the way as a titanic blue beam burst through the area she had been standing only moments before and vanished into the night sky. The teen quickly picked herself off the ground and leapt back towards the opening to survey the battle.

Time slowed to a crawl.

She saw Deliora in all of its terrible glory, towering over her friends. She saw its fist rushing towards a glowing Gray. She saw the resignation in his features as he realized that he was too slow, that he couldn't dodge away in time. Then she saw her best friend shove the ice mage to the side, saw his sad smile the instant before impact. She heard the crack of bones splintering, smelt the blood as it arced out behind him, and witnessed Goku flying through the air straight through solid stone and disappear from sight. The time seemed to come to a halt for the girl as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she had just watched her best friend die. For a moment she wanted nothing more for her legs to give out so that she could fall to her knees and sob, but as quickly as those emotions appeared they were quickly replaced by a far more powerful feeling. All of the despair, the pain, the self-loathing twisted around towards a single target, and her mind was consumed with nothing more than sheer, unfiltered rage.

The girl took off straight up into the air at such a speed that it brought tears to her eyes. She pushed herself upwards to her absolute limit, to the point where her lungs where burning from lack of oxygen and her head was beginning to spin. Then, right before she passed out, she turned. Gravity pulled her back to earth like a bullet as she used her magic to shoot herself even faster. Terminal velocity was left behind and the air around her began to ignite as she approached the demon from above. Seconds before impact she shifted her armor once more. The angelic white of the Heaven's Wheel faded away, replaced by a hellish black that screamed of pain and vengeance. The Purgatory Armor and its massive buster sword, the most powerful suit of armor that Erza owned. Deliora heard rather than saw the attack coming as Erza slammed the blade down atop its head.

Gray watched on in disbelief as the fiery meteor that was his friend exploded against the demon and sent out a shockwave that encompassed the entire island. The demon and the girl vanished from view as an enormous cloud of dust and debris and the entire mountain began to crack around them. He and Lyon were sent flying back against the wall, cracking the rock before sliding to the ground. Gray was quick to rise to his feet, dragging his rival up with him. The two looked over towards the cloud of dust cover the demon anxiously before taking note of the cave crumbling around them.

"Oh crap…" The two ice mages bolted for a side cave and sprinted through all the while throwing ice up around them to try and keep the cave intact for a few precious extra seconds. They burst out into the forest just as the mountain came down, burying Deliora under tons of stone.

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A red pole shot through the air and struck the ground next to the two ice mages as they tried to catch their breath. Levy slid down its length and landed roughly on her feet, stumbling slightly as she came to a stop. She level a wary glare towards Lyon but said nothing. Nothing called a truce like a gigantic demon attacking. Levy remained on her feet for a few more seconds before her energy gave out on her and she slowly slid to the ground. Gray helped the panting girl prop up against a tree and settle into a relatively comfortable position.

"I saw Erza go berserk down there… that means we won, right? Do you know what happened to her? Is Goku with her?" Gray's face twisted up and he looked at the ground, unable to meet her eyes. Levy waited for a full minute before her nerves began to eat away ate away ate her.

"Gray? Gray where are they? Are they alright? Come on, say something, you're scaring me!" The girl's voice grew more desperate and panicked as she continued on. Gray kept his head low, the guilt gnawing away at him, choking the words in his throat. Instead, Lyon was the one that answered for him.

"The boy is dead, Deloria killed him. I cannot speak for the Titania" Levy blinked. Then she blinked again. She turned from Lyon's hard look to Gray's shrunken demeanor, looking back and forth between the two with her eyes growing wider and wider as she continued to turn.

"No no no. You're kidding right? Gray, please tell me he's lying. Gray, c'mon. GRAY!"

"He took a blow that was meant for me…he saved my life." Levy blinked hard in a futile effort to keep the tears back, but slowly they began to slide down her face.

"But… no. No! I don't believe you, he's too tough to die like that!"

"I agree." The mages looked up as Erza stormed onto the scene still in her Purgatory Amor. The dark aura coming off of her sent shivers down all of their spines, and looking into her eyes was like staring down a dark pit of fury.

"I won't believe he is dead until I see a body. He is out there somewhere, possibly dying, and you two are sitting around moping! On your feet, we need to find him immediately!" Gray pulled himself up, holding out an arm for Levy to brace herself on so she could likewise rise to her feet.

"You're right, we need to move." A flame had sparked behind Gray's eyes. It was dull, unrefined and ready to fizzle out at any moment. But for the moment at least he had a sliver of hope and he would cling to it for all that he was worth. Moving slowly for the sake of the injured girl on his arm Gray made his way into the forest, leaving Lyon and his fallen companions behind.

They had made it about twenty steps before the ruins behind them exploded.

The force of the blast knocked down all of the trees in the immediate vicinity and sent all of the mages tumbling through the air. Stone and dust was blasted into the sky like an erupting volcano, and out of the debris rose Deliora. The energy of the Moon Drip continued to swirl around it like a vortex, throwing back everything in the vicinity away. Then as the glow began to fade, the creature began to grow. Erza stared in horror as the monster turned to face them and began to move, taking one lumbering step after another as it stretched to nearly a hundred feet tall.

"That… that's impossible! I hit it with everything I had, I dropped a mountain atop it! How can it possibly still be unhurt?!"

Erza's statement wasn't entirely accurate, though she couldn't possible know this. The impact of her meteor-like blow had shaken the creature's brain around inside of its head and given it the mother of all headaches. The first thing it experienced after breaking out of a decade long stint in a subzero prison was the single most painful experience in its existence. To say Deliora was unhappy would be like saying that Happy enjoyed the occasional fish.

In other words, it was pissed.

Erza recovered from her shock quickly and charged forward with the Purgatory's massive blade held up for an overhead strike to the monsters knee. Deliora's arm shot out towards the girl like a freight train and Erza was forced to break off from her attack in a desperate attempt to dodge. The strike barely grazed her, but the demon was in a league of its own in physical strength. The blow hit the knight like a tank and it sent her sailing away across the ground. She bounced and rolled to a stop some distance away, unconscious long before she hit the dirt.

Levy lay a short distance away, out cold from the initial eruption. Lyon was barely standing, clutching his hand to a deep bloody gash along the side of his head. He stood protectively in front of the rest of his gang who were all laid out behind him, unaware of the danger towering over them. Gray was the only one in any short of fighting shape left, and without trying he already knew things were hopeless. Goku had hit it with a massive energy attack and Erza had followed it up with a physical attack of equal caliber. Nothing he did would have any chance of putting down something that could shrug off that much power so easily. It was over.

"We've got no chance at all… and now you're going to finish off the job you started all those years ago. I can't save anybody… I'm out of options." Deliora took another massive step towards the group and opened its mouth. Slowly an orb of energy began to form, an attack that would wipe them out without a trace.

"Not even enough time to use the Iced Shell and sacrifice myself. Well, I guess at the very least… I CAN GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ME BY! ICE MAKE: MORTAR!" Gray put the entirety of his power behind the attack, in a single move he had completely drained away nearly every bit of magic he had left. A lone bolt of ice flew through the air, arcing slightly before coming back down and striking the behemoth dead center in the eye.

The impact from the blast pierced the eyeball, freezing it into a solid block in the monster's head. If it had been aggravated by the attacks previous, now was nothing short of pure agony. The blast it had been building was discharged off towards the cliff edge across the island. Gray watched in terror as the cliff disappeared, blasted into rubble that toppled down into the water. The demon staggered around in pain, swinging its arms wildly and firing off random blasts in every direction. Trees were leveled by its angered flailing and stone was disintegrated under the power of its blasts.

Gray slid down onto his knees, taking pride in the fact that at the very least he had managed to injure the beast, maybe made it a bit easier for someone else to kill somewhere down the line. At the very least he had the last laugh.

After several seconds of pure agony the demon managed to regain some of its focus. It turned to the kneeling teen, white hot primal fury consuming it's every thought and sense. Few things in history had ever managed to survive contact with Deliora enough to actually anger it before, but on the rare instances it happened nothing was left in its wake. Demonic energy began to gather into another orb by its mouth, far bigger than any had come before. A blast so big that the island itself would vanish upon detonation.

But then as the blast was about to go forth a bestial roar reverberated across the island. Deliora's attack faded away at the sound as the monster paused in surprise. The cry's strength indicated a creature of similar size to itself. Deliora glared down once more at it's tiny pray before turning to face this new threat. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

Ba-Bump.

The conscious mind slipped away as eye contact was maintained with the moon. The tail flailed wildly in every direction like never before but the motion went completely unnoticed by its owner. The first obvious change was in the eyes. The eyes, previously the glassy orbs of the dying, were changed into a deep red. The color oozed in as though every blood vessel in the eyes suddenly burst at once.

Next came the more physical changes. The body knitted itself back together in an instant, negating every bit of damage that the demon had dealt to it. The jaw and nose began to elongate and change shape, twisting into a more animalistic design. The muscles across the body began pulsing with power and steady began growing with no end in sight. Soon the rest of the body followed suit and began to elongate. The clothes around the body ripped and tore themselves away.

Hair began to lengthen across the entire body and soon every bit of exposed skin was covered up. Then the growth began for real. The body stretched out beyond what should be possible, muscles and bones thickening and lengthening in order to keep up. With energy blasts crashing down around it the monster reached its full size, towering over the trees around it. When the monster had finally stopped growing it had surpassed even Deliora's size. The beast first looked off towards the glow of a small village across the island and briefly thoughts of carnage and mayhem flashed in its primeval mind. But then its gaze shifted towards the other titanic beast a short distance away. For reasons beyond the creature's comprehension, the sight of the other monster made its mind flash to images of pain, images of being broken and weak.

This filled the beast, a being of strength and power, with an intense rage.

The beast roared in defiance of the vision, of the thought of being weak, the thought of being defeated. The other monster turned at the sound of the roar and sent its own cry of rage in response. The island shook with the power behind the two calling one another, the sea itself reverberated with the strength of their challenge. Then as one, the monsters charged.

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Erza awoke to the sound of a great roar. Blearily she pulled her head from the dirt and dragged her hands underneath her, scrapping up the ground as pushed herself back up. She wiped a blob of mud from her face and turned to look for her friends. Instead she was greeted with the sight of a 10 story tall monkey bitch slapping Deliora straight into the ground. Erza blinked hard for a moment before pinching herself, unable to accept she was witnessing reality. The demon had returned to its feet and slammed a massive claw into the monkey's chin and knocked it to the ground with a loud thud.

Apparently she was awake.

Joy.

The red head looked spotted Gray a short distance away where he and Lyon had created a weak ice shield to protect themselves from the battle. Levy's unconscious form lay between them where the ice was thickest to keep the girl safe. Shifting into her Flight Armor the girl blurred over to the group and took cover behind the barricade.

"Would someone care to inform me what is going on?" Gray turned slightly and gave a brief smile of relief at seeing his friend before growing serious.

"Good news and bad news. The good news is that the monkey thing stopped Deliora from killing us. Bad news is that the way they are fighting right now, they're gonna end up killing us anyways. We're all running on fumes at this point, all it's going to take is one hit and we're done." Erza nodded seriously and turned to study the two beasts locked in combat.

Deliora's claws bit deep into the monkey's chest and sent drops of blood the size of garbage cans flying through the air. The beast roared in anger and snapped at the demon with its massive jaw, only for the demon to bash its face down into a nearby tree. The furred creature grabbed onto the tree and swung it like a bat across the demon's head, making it stumble. The monkey went to follow up but the demon suddenly spun, firing a blast straight into the beast's knee. The cry of pain that followed was quickly silenced as the demon smashed its claws into the monkey head again before grabbing it by the tail. A strangled gasp came from the mammal's mouth as the hand squeezed before it was lifted up into the air and chucked into the woods.

The fight raged on but Erza stood frozen, her eyes wide as she stared intently at the giant monkey. The beast's reaction when its tail was grabbed, a tail that only now was looking suspiciously familiar. In the sky, a full moon and words of warning from years ago echoing through her mind.

"Goku…"

"You see Goku? Where?" Gray poked his head out from behind the shield and began looking over the devastated landscape for any sigh of their friend.

"I think he's the monkey."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? How can Goku be that monster?"

"…When we met his Grandfather he warned me that if Goku sees the full moon while he has his tail, something terrible will happen."

"So then what is he? Some kind of were-beast? But then… his tail was always vanishing." Grey paused, and Erza could practically sense the gears turning in his head. "…it was you wasn't it?"

Erza closed her eyes. "…Now is not the time to be discussing this. If I'm right and that is Goku then we need to help him somehow." Though Erza hardened her face towards Gray, he could never know just what emotions were running through her at that moment. The strongest of all of them was simply…relief. Finally she didn't have to keep the secret anymore. Finally, right or wrong, she could face repercussions and perhaps even repent from actions that had been silently eating away at her for years. But the biggest relief of all came from seeing that Goku's tail had actually done something. She had diligently cut it off whenever it popped up, at least once a year, in order to keep her word to Gohan. But she never had any proof that something would actually happen. If she had been causing her friend harm for no reason beyond superstition for so long… she would likely never forgive herself.

"How are we supposed to help him? I barely have enough power to keep this shield up right now, not that it matters. Even if I was at my best, I would be next to useless. You're barely any better off than I am, Lyon's on his last leg, and Levy's down for the count. We have no idea where any of Lyon's friends ended up, and even if we did then they would all be next to useless. We don't have anything to offer right everybody else is practically running on fumes."

"You're right, we probably can't do anything at all. But that doesn't mean that we can't try. At the very least I'm going to see if I can move the fight farther away from here to keep you out of the line of fire." Shifting into Heaven's Wheel Erza went to take off but stopped when she felt a hand latch onto her wrist.

"Don't try and stop me Gray, I'm going to go no matter what you do."

"I know. Just be careful alright? Try to see if you and the monkey boy can get out of this alive."

"Of course we will. Would you expect anything less?" With that Erza took to the sky and charged headlong into battle.

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Goku's conscious mind was gone from the moment he set his gaze at the moon. Now his cheerful personality was gone, leaving behind nothing but a bundle of rage and natural instincts. Deliora was barely any better, the powerful demon had the natural cunning of a predator species but it was no true intelligence. Any form, technique, any skill or tactic were thrown out the window the second the two monsters had set sights on one another.

The Oozaru rushed forward and ducked as the demon fired a red burst from its mouth. Sliding in next to the demon, the monkey stood and delivered a massive backhand that sent the monster crashing to the ground. The demon rolled back to its feet before Goku could follow through and lashed out with its claws. The monkey fell to the ground with a heavy crash that kicked up a massive cloud of dirt and debris. The demon stalked over towards his unmoving form. The second it was in range the Oozaru's tail lashed out, catching Deliora's ankle and pulling it down on top of the monkey. Goku spun the creature around and pinned it to the ground before rearing back and latching it's fangs around the demon's throat. Deliora growled as the teeth dug into its flesh but Goku was unable to pierce the creature's thick hide. After a few moments of struggling the demon fired off another beam that blasted the Oozaru back towards the forest. The demon charged forward and grabbed onto the monkey's foot, swinging him around and slamming him through half a dozen trees. Goku leapt back up and bull rushed the demon, delivering a massive fist straight into the creature's gut. Deliora took a single step back and let out a small huff before it went on the offensive again.

The Oozaru howled as massive claws raked across its stomach and sent blood splattering across the field. Goku went for another bite but the demon dodged and smashed him down into the ground once more. Goku grabbed a tree next to his face and ripped it from the ground in a wide arc. The demon was caught full in the face with the improvised club and knock back a few paces. Goku rose to his feet and went to swing the tree again but the demon fired yet another burst from his mouth, the shot flying like an arrow to the knee. The Oozaru howled as its leg suddenly lost the ability to support its weight and crumbled down towards its side. Before he even had time to reach the ground the demon struck again, smashing the monkey's jaw closed in a bone rattling uppercut. The force of the blow sent Goku hurtling backwards, but not fast enough to stop the demon from grabbing his tail.

All of the fight went out of Goku in an instant as his world was consumed by nothing but pain. He could do nothing but gasp out in pain as a hand closed around his neck and launched him into the woods. Goku snarled as feeling returned to his body and dragged his hand through the dirt around him. He flung the debris into the demon's face and charged as it stumbled back blind. A hairy fist collided into the demon's face, followed by one right under the chin.

Then the chest.

The temple.

Stomach.

Forehead.

Gut punch.

Gut punch.

Gut punch.

And… smash. Goku wrapped one hand around the demon's throat and the other around its groin and lifted the creature into the air over its head. With another roar he smashed the demon into the ground and began stomping on it over and over. With every blow the ground beneath them cracked just a bit more, pushing them deeper and deeper into the crater they were tearing into the island. Goku brought up his leg to stomp on the demon again when suddenly its arm shot out, catching his foot as it began its descent. The air between the two was bathed in a pale red light as the demon charged up another attack right at point blank range. When it fired the Oozaru was launched straight up into the air and straight up into the clouds. The blast detonated when it reached its peak and dropped the transformed teen back down towards the ocean below. With a mighty splash the Oozaru crashed down into the salt water and sunk down beneath the waves.

Deliora marched up to the water's edge, its massive feet leave pool sized craters in the sand with every step it took. The monster stared at the waves around it and searched for any sign that the Oozaru might have survived. It took the demon several moments to become aware of the slight itching sensation across its back and several more to become interested enough to turn and try and identify the source. However in the air was a little red haired fly firing off tiny metal sticks at the demon's hide. The beast snorted before lashing out with its arm like someone would try to swat a mosquito. The red head glowed for a brief moment as the blow came towards her and when it faded she appeared furred. The nuisance blurred through the air, easily dodging the demon's attack and landing a number of tiny slashes along its arm. Deliora snarled in annoyance and began flailing out at the tiny creature, but like a human and a fly the giant creature wasn't fast enough to land a blow. One after another little slashes were made across it's body as the nuisance ran across its skin. They were meaningless, not even breaking the skin. They dealt no lasting damage and had no possibility of truly wounding the monster. But they were fulfilling their purpose.

The demon's attention was off of the ocean.

The Oozaru rose up silently behind the demon as it continued its attempts of removing the nuisance. The monkey's chest had been badly burned, its hair was all but gone and several layers of flesh had followed it, leaving behind an angry, oozing red wound. With eyes glowing red the Oozaru squared up directly behind the demonic entity and _roared_.

As the power surged through him, the roar took the form of visible shockwave. Every tree before the monster was instantly flattened as the shockwave spread out and wreaked havoc upon everything it contacted.

Erza was sent sailing away from the force of the blast, almost all the way to the opposite end of the island in a single move. She managed to ride the current of blast, staying up in the air and staying conscious even as a slew of new bruises appeared along her body as she was sent rocketing away.

Deliora was sent tumbling backwards head over heels before it crashed awkwardly atop the ruins of its former prison, staring up at the sky. Then its vision was filled with several tons of angry flesh and fur as the Oozaru stood before it. Goku held up a single finger over the demon's eyes and jabbed down, straight into the eye that Gray had damaged before. Deliora screamed in pain and began withering around on the ground before with a pop the frozen eye came out into the monkey's hand. With a snort the Oozaru tossed the eye behind his back and turned his attention towards the other eye socket. Deliora flailed in the monkey's grasp before the icy flesh gave way with an audible pop.

Goku stared at the orb in his hand for a moment, completely ignoring the beast struggling beneath him. He tentatively brought the eyeball up to his nose and took a cautious sniff. His face twisted up in disgust before he threw the glob of flesh over his shoulder. He looked down at the demon again in time to catch an energy sphere straight to the face. Deliora sat up as Goku was forced back and fired again. The blasts were smaller than before, Deliora wasn't wasting time to charge up and fired as fast as possible. One after another more and more blasts crashed against the Oozaru and forced it back step by step. Between the shots Deliora rose up to its feet once more and started spreading out its shots, laying out blasts across his body. Hair began to burn away and the smell of cooking flesh permeated the island. Once more the flow of battle began to shift towards the more ancient monster; a fact that was not lost on those watching.

The fight had moved away from the ice mages and their unconscious allies that the pair had been able to drop their shield and just watch the battle. For Gray it was a fearful experience, watching one of his friends transformed into a monster and fighting a gigantic demon. For Lyon, the event was a bit more eye opening. Years of training and he was no closer to defeating Deliora than he was when he first encountered the monster. Now the two boys looked over their injured companions, their friends, before looking each other in the eye.

"Your friend is losing."

"Yeah."

"Are you ready?"

"…Yeah."

"**Ice Make: DOUBLE CANNON!"**

"**Ice Make: ICE DRAGON!" **

The dragon flew in between the two cannonballs as they travelled across the island and collided with their target: Deliora's empty eye socket. The demon cried out when the attacks hit and took several stumbling steps away as it desperately brought its arms up to shield from further attacks. The demon turned towards the source of the attack and began to charge another of its deadly blasts in its mouth. It didn't get the chance to fire.

His entire body a bundle of pain, Goku charged across the battlefield and smashed his fist across the demon's jaw so hard that it was left hanging open as the bones within were turned to dust. The attack spun Deliora around and when its back was to the Oozaru, the teen struck. Both hands lashed out and caught the demon by each wrist and a massive foot was planted on the monster's back. Then he began to pull. Deliora struggled at first to get free but soon its world was consumed by nothing but pain as its arms were stretched backwards to their absolute limit. The Oozaru snarled as it pulled, putting every ounce of strength it had into his effort. The demon's arms continued to inch backwards past their natural limit as the two titans struggled and the remaining fighters watched with bated breath. Then the resistance was gone.

Deliora fell to the ground into what was quickly becoming a lake of its own blood as Goku roared in triumph, holding a demonic arm in either hand. He threw the limbs in the same direction as the eye he had stolen earlier and kicked his downed opponent onto its back. The demon grunted pitifully as the life began to leave its body but the Oozaru was not done yet. It pulled the demon up by the shoulder and wrapped both hands around its head. The monkey's legs and tail moved to keep the beast in place and then the Oozaru began to pull once again. The struggle ended far more quickly this time and in a matter of moments Goku was holding the creature's head in his hands.

The Oozaru dropped the pulpy mess atop of the demon's body and looked upwards at the moon in the sky. Goku pounded his chest like a savage as he declared his victory to the heavens in a final victorious roar.

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Erza had been hovering around the battle since she had recovered from the shockwave, waiting to jump in case her friend ran into trouble. She had thankfully been able to avoid giving away her presence due to Gray and Lyon's combination, and with Goku caught up in his victory she moved in. The Blackwing Armor allowed her to blaze through the air with sword in hand to slice straight through the gigantic tail. The giant monkey froze as the limb fell away from its body before it began shrinking. Erza sighed in relief as the monster began to revert back to her friend, had the loss of a tail failed to return Goku to his original state he might have killed everyone on the island. She flew down just as her friend reached his true form and began to regain conscious. She landed just as he maneuvered his body up into a standing position. Drawing her attention to one very distracting fact.

He was naked.

Erza's face flushed tomato red before managed to turn around and look out towards the ocean. If you ignored the giant bloody corpse the coastline looked quiet lovely at night.

"Hey, what happened to Deliora?" Erza barely managed to resist the urge to turn around and firmly kept her back towards her friend.

"Do you remember anything? Anything at all about what happened?"

"No, one minute I was dying in the forest and the next I'm out here! Do you know what happened?"

"Yes, but perhaps you should do something first. Maybe you are missing something?"

"OH! Oh yeah, your right!" Erza gave a sigh of relief and was about to address her friend but then he continued.

"I lost my present for Gray! I had it in my pocket, but I guess I lost my clothes somewhere. Heh, this must be what it's like to be him. I'm going to go find it, I'll meet you over with the others!"

"No, wait Goku! That's not what I meant!" Erza turned to yell at her friend and was greeted with a view of his retreating backside. With a high pitched "Eep!" the girl quickly spun back around again and allowed the spiky haired teen to vanish off into what was left of the woods. Growling to herself she took off back into the sky and made her way over towards Gray's group. She arrived just as Levy was finally regaining consciousness and the trio waited for the last member of their group to arrive.

It took several minutes for Goku to rejoin them, thankfully holding the remains of his clothing in front of his waist. Levy's face was alight with the widest grin and the only thing keeping her from charging in and hugging him was his lack of clothing. In his other hand he was gently cupping a small crystal which he brought over to Gray.

"I heard you guys talked about how your teacher turned into that giant iceberg that was holding Deliora so when everything was melting I grabbed you a small piece. Now you can always have a bit of Ur with you!" Gray stared at the small ice crystal for several moments before he almost reverently took it from Goku's hands.

"Goku, you have no idea how much this means to me. I'd hug you, but… maybe once you get some clothes on first." Goku looked down at himself and smiled sheepishly.

"Right, yeah I should probably get some clothes on. Hey Levy, do you think you can fix these?" Goku made to hand the pile over to the word mage and Levy's face did an impressive imitation of Erza's from before.

"Don't hand them off to me like that, keep yourself covered! I don't have enough power to do anything right now, I can't fix them." Erza chuckled quietly and stepped towards her friend, careful to keep her gaze directed away from him. A small pile of clothes appeared into her hand, a familiar combination of orange and blue.

"With how often we burn through our clothes in high intensity battles I've taken to carrying around spars for those I travel with, all except for Gray."

"What the heck? You have clothes for everybody except for me?"

"Yes, I used to carry around clothes for you as well but I eventually came to the conclusion that it was a lost cause and stopped bothering with it."

"What the heck! You know what, forget it! Maybe I'll just keep my shirt off altogether from now on them if that's what you all expect from me!" Gray growled out. Levy and Erza both just rolled their eyes and turned to face a now fully dressed Goku.

"Alright, I'm all set. So Erza, can you tell me what happened now?" Erza thought carefully, she would need word this a certain way in order to-

"You transformed into some sort of giant monkey monster and had a death match with Deliora that nearly destroyed the entire island. You killed a monster that would normally take a Wizard Saint or some seriously tricky ability to defeat and then Erza rushed in and cut off your tail and turned you back to normal." Levy blinked. Goku blinked. Erza face palmed.

"I transformed… and I beat Deliora? But if I don't remember anything, just a few fuzzy images. Erza, how did you know that cutting off my tail would turn me back to normal?" Erza pushed down her nervousness, she had already told herself that she would come clean after this and just accept what happened.

"When we fought Baba's fighters and we met your Grandfather he told me that your tail was dangerous. He made me promise… made me promised that I'd…" Her voice hitched, the words wouldn't come. But as Goku's eyes darkened, she knew it wouldn't matter.

"He made you promise that you would get rid of it. That's why my tail kept disappearing, you kept cutting it off." Erza nodded silently and Goku continued.

"Grandpa wouldn't just tell you to do that without a reason. He must have known about my transformations! He always told me to stay away from the full moon because of a monster but… oh Grandpa. That means I'm the one who…"

Goku turned wet eyes up towards the sky and his voice dropped down to a whisper that the others had to strain in order to hear.

"I killed you. Grandpa I'm so sorry." Goku trembled slightly as he stared off into the distance, unaware of his teammate's eyes on him. Levy and Gray shared matching looks of shock, unable to match Goku's cheery personality with someone capable of killing their own family. Erza's eyes were watering as well as she saw the pain in Goku's movements. Out of everyone she knew what it felt like to hurt those close to you, willingly or not.

"Erza… why didn't you tell me?" Goku's voice was level and barely emoted anything, a calm monotone tone to hide his chaotic feelings behind.

"You knew I could be dangerous if I kept the tail; if you had just told me then I could have gotten rid of it myself and it wouldn't have been a problem. So why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. Your Grandfather gave the task to me so I decided it would be best for me to handle it myself. I wasn't sure how you would react if you knew…"

"You didn't trust me then." Erza quickly made to deny the claim but Goku held up a hand, silencing her.

"You didn't think I could handle it myself and decided to take the full burden on without any aid. Just like you do with whatever it is you are hiding from us about your past." Erza's eyes widened in shock.

"I know I'm not very smart, but you guys have been around me, teaching me for as long as I've known you. I know you, you always avoid any sort of question about anything before you met me. Something happened back then that you don't trust anybody else to help you with. I always just thought you needed time, but if you are even hiding things about me from myself then maybe you can't trust anybody at all. Since I've met you and everybody else at Fairy Tail I've trusted you guys with everything, but it seems my best friend can't do the same for me." Goku looked sadly at the red head across from him while she desperately searched for the words to rebut him but nothing was coming to her. She just stood their gaping like a fish as Goku gave her a small, sad little smile.

"Grandpa always told me that the closest friends trust one another with everything. If that's the case, I don't know what to do." Goku looked down at the ground for a moment then glanced over at Gray and Levy. The pair had kept their silence so far but they were clearly uncomfortable. Neither had any idea what to say or how to try and fix things. Erza looked shell shocked. She had been trying to help her friend, she knew that, but the things he was saying was making her perspective seem blurry.

The four stood in a circle for several moments of awkward silence before Goku abruptly turned and started walking away.

"I need to think for a bit, I'll see you guys back at the guild in a few days." He gave them no time to call out, no time to respond. He called out and Nimbus flew down before him so he could hop on and take off into the air. The teen turned to give a two finger salute before the cloud kicked it up and the two blasted off into the sky. In only a handful of seconds they were gone.

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In the distance the cloaked figure that had dueled with Goku had watched everything from the shadows. When Deliora had first appeared she had been ecstatic, controlling such a creature would have been a game changer in the long run for her organizations plans. But after watching it battle the giant monkey her interests had been redirected. The possibilities that the boy provided were nearly limitless, they could drop him off in the middle of a city and leave him there. Then at night he would transform, catching the inhabitants by surprise and wiping them out to a man. The tail was a weakness that would need to be overcome, but if they could succeed in that, there were only a handful of mages on the planet that could hope to compete. The only problem would be figuring out how to take the boy and convert him to their cause.

"Enjoy your freedom Son Goku, because very soon you shall belong to us." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! WITH THE GALUNA TEAM SPLIT UP WE STOP TO TAKE A BREATH AS OUR HEROES TRY TO OVERCOME THE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL THAT THE ISLAND HAS PUT THEM THROUGH. HOW WILL THE TEAM HANDLE THEMSELVES, AND CAN THEY PULL THEMSELVES TOGETHER? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: REPERCUSSIONS.

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AN: Did you guys ever realize how inconsistent the Oozaru are in Dragon Ball? When we first see one it is over 100 feet tall and dwarfs a castle. The next time we see one it is far smaller and fits comfortably on the stage at the Budokai. Weird huh? For this chapter I decided bigger was better and brought out the most massive version of the monkey and scaled Deliora up accordingly. Hopefully nobody has a problem with that.

Alright guys, I haven't done anything quite like this in terms of the scale of the battle or in terms of character conflict and angst before. I would seriously appreciate some honest feedback on how I did with this. So please take just a few moments and write a review, let me know just what you think of this.


	16. Repercussions

**AN: **So guys, I'm kind of confused. A large portion of the reviews I have gotten since I started with this story were just questions over and over again about when I would be including the Oozaru. So I finally bring it in last chapter, thought I did a decent job, and somehow that chapter is as of writing this the least reviewed chapter of the arc. I was expecting the most considering it featured the giant monster fight. Weird. Anyways, I've decided to start answering some of the guest reviews on here since they apparently refuse to get accounts. You know who you are.

Saiyan Fan: Yes Wendy probably could do that, but she shouldn't. Goku has brain damage, and I believe that would prevent him from ever getting full control over the Oozaru. Don't worry, it will be showing up again. It's just that there will be large gaps between appearances. You are correct though, Goku doesn't hold grudges long.

fairy saiyan: Instant Transmission might be able to do that, it's a good idea. However Goku won't be getting the ability for a LONG time, no need to worry about that anytime soon. It would be extremely overpowered up until at least the time skip, and it would also kill tension in spots were they need to race to a certain objective unless I add more limits to the technique.

A general answer since a bunch of people asked this, I am aware that the Oozaru can fire lasers. I know that Gohan and Vegeta both did it, and many of the unnamed Saiyans throughout the series did the same. However, Goku never did it a single time. I figured that he was probably too weak to do so, his power level was significantly weaker than any normal Saiyan would have been at that time period. So no laser beams, maybe next time.

And to whoever it was that mentioned that they were disappointed that Goku learned the Spirit Ball instead of the Wolf Fang Fist but has PMing turned off- Goku already has an awesome punch based move, one that is far superior to the Wolf Fang Fist. I'm trying to give Goku some diversity in his moves, in the main series all he really has is teleportation and a bunch of Kamehameha variations. The Spirit Ball is different from most of the moves in Goku's arsenal and it takes very little power to use, I figured it was the best choice.

…That's it, not a big selection to pick from for the last few chapters. On with the story!

**Chapter 16: Repercussions **

Gray wasn't sure what to do.

Lyon had bolted with his friends shortly after Goku had left and headed off somewhere, leaving the three remaining Fairies to themselves. The trio had trudged in silence down to the village to check on the situation and he had been able to receive the payment and Celestial Key from the elder. They had barely even paid attention to the now revealed demons or the tearful reunion they had with their chieftain's son. The townspeople had even offered food, lodge for the night and a ride home in the morning. They had refused all but the third and trudged off into the woods to set up a small camp for themselves. Now the three were sitting in a circle staring into a small fire, barely acknowledging one another's presence.

Levy looked shaken up even before Goku had left and now that things had calmed down and the adrenaline had worn off she looked even worse. She was staring down into her hands, rubbing them over and over again, completely dead to the outside world. Erza was no better off, her eyes were glazed and she just stared off into the distance morosely. Gray silently slide his eyes back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what was going on in their heads. The two obviously were stewing in their own thoughts and there was no possible way that it would do them any real good in the long run. He wanted to do something but honestly, he didn't have anything to say.

Gray wasn't in the same state as the others. He was shaken by what he had seen, between Goku's monstrous alter, Erza's secrets and the death of Deliora he was having trouble comprehending what had happened. But more than anything else gray felt…relief. It was like someone had lifted a massive boulder off his chest and now was the first time he had been able to breath unhindered in years. It still hurt, but it was the kind of soreness that told him he'd be better and stronger in the morning. The creature that had ruined his life and destroyed his family on two separate occasions was dead. It would never be able to harm him or his loved ones again. The little voice in the back of his mind, the one telling him over and over again that Fairy Tail's time was numbered and that he would be left alone again, it had finally been silenced. For years it had been a dark thought in the back of his mind, that his time was limited, that it was only a matter of time before everything fell apart. When Deliora had broken free the voice had grown into a roaring in his ears, telling him that he had failed once again, that everything he cared about was once again going to be wiped out. Never in his life had he been happier to be wrong.

The teen fingered the small ice crystal in his pocket, the only fragment left of Ur's nearly indestructible ice. The crystal was an even greater source of contentment than even Deliora's demise. It was a physical, tangible link to his past and a memento of his teacher. When he touched it he felt as though she was still with him. It was as though the crystal carried her emotions, conveying her pride to her student for his accomplishments since they had parted ways. Like some part of Ur was still alive.

But no matter how much better he felt, he still had no idea how to deal with the two girls sitting across from him. He didn't know how to help, he didn't know what to say, and he wasn't even sure how to start the conversation. It was times like these that he was glad he didn't have any real girl problems that he had to deal with. Nowhere in the near future could he see himself willingly dealing with something like that. After a few more seconds of internal debate Gray decided to just wing it and say what he was pretty sure both of the girls were thinking.

"Well this sucks."

Levy's head snapped up in surprise at the sound of his voice. She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts she had forgotten the others were there. Erza blinked slowly and looked up at him, her face cast into shadows from the flame. With both sets of eyes on him Gray scrambled for something else to say.

"I mean-uh- the situation here, everything that happened. This whole island is a mess and Goku is gone and it sucks." Erza didn't even acknowledge his words and just kept the same, flat gaze leveled at him. Levy gave the tiniest flicker of emotion on her face and Gray turned his focus over to her.

"You've been looking like you're going to be sick ever since everything calmed down. Did you get sick or something?"

"No, I'm fine." Levy looked back into the fire again, bringing a frown to Gray's face. He wanted to snap her out of her funk, not send her right back into it. He needed to do something to get a reaction out of her…

"Is it your time of the month or something?" Levy moved so fast that Gray had a vague thought that she had learned how to teleport before her hand crashed into the side of his face and sent him straight to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell would you even ask something like that?!" Gray idly rubbed his face, noting that Levy seemed a bit stronger than the last time he had done something slap worthy. Goku's strength training was apparently paying off. He glanced up at the word mage and was met with an angry stare, her face red with anger. Even Erza had turned so that she could glower towards him as well, her eyes alight with rage. But at least they looked more animated than they had for the past few hours.

Progress was being made.

"So what's the problem here? You freaked out about Deliora? Don't worry about it if you are, I was a total wreck for days after the first time I saw that thing and it didn't get any better after I fought it with Ur and Lyon. But it's gone now." Levy's breathing slowed and her skin returned to its normal color. Erza shifted her gaze over to Levy once more, a glint of concern in her eyes.

"You have looked rather ill since we have made camp. Are you sure that you are not suffering from any sort of ailment? I have no doubt that the villagers would be quick to help us out if that is the case. Would you like me to go and see if they have a doctor of some sort?"

"I said I'm not sick. There isn't anything wrong with me." Erza's mouth tightened and she began to open her mouth for a retort only for Gray to cut in.

"So what exactly is wrong then?" Levy looked between her two friends before she broke their gaze and looked down at her hands. She gripped both of her hands around the empty air, picturing the crimson Power Pole in her grasp. She shuddered and hugged her arms close to herself and murmured so quietly that the other struggled to hear.

"I… I just think… I don't know if I'm cut out… to fight… to be like you guys." Erza regarded the girl carefully before he answered.

"What do you mean you aren't cut out to be like us? You are a valuable member of this team as both an asset and more importantly a friend."

"I know… but I'm not like you guys. Put a complicated spell in front of me and I can tear it apart, learn everything there is to know about it, and then put it back together again in no time flat. But when it comes to fighting, I've never really liked it. I'll fight to protect you guys and try and keep everyone safe, but after what I did to that girl on the mountain top… I feel sick. I beat her into a bloody mess! I could have killed her with one little mistake, one misplaced blow, just a bit too much force and she would have been dead! How am I even supposed to feel? It didn't even matter anyways, I couldn't do anything to stop the ritual from going off so I might as well not tried at all. So not only could I have killed someone, if Goku didn't turn out to be some sort of giant were-monkey all of us would have died as well because I was too slow! I can't… I don't… I… I…"

Once Levy had opened her mouth it was like the floodgate was open and she couldn't hold her feelings within any longer. Tears streamed down her face as voiced her blame and self-loathing came pouring out. Erza dashed in and grabbed the girl, pulling her into a tight hug. Levy buried her face into the older girl's shoulder, her whole body shaking violently as she let everything out. Gray watched from the sidelines, slightly shocked at how quickly Erza had shifted from her emotionally dead state in order to comfort her friend.

To be able to shift aside her troubles so quickly just because her friends needed her…well that was Erza all over wasn't it.

The three barely moved for the next ten minutes as Levy slowly calmed down. Finally with a small sniff the smaller girl broke the hug and stepped back, wiping absently at her eyes.

"Thanks… so, if you guys want me to leave the team I will… I won't be mad if you blame me…"

"We don't blame you." Levy looked over to Gray as he continued. "There was nothing you could have done that would have changed how things turn out. The Iced Shell had already weakened considerably, so Deloria would have busted out sooner or later. We survived, that's what matters. And it's not like we'll hate you if you don't want to be a fighter. The world isn't one of those happy little animes were nobody ever dies in a fight. If you really dislike fighting that much then stick to what you know. We aren't going to stop being your friends for it."

"But… I could have gotten you guy killed."

"We're fighters, there will always be a chance we die. Don't worry about it. There were plenty of times where any of us could have been killed, it wasn't any one person's fault. Wait… actually that isn't true. I'm pretty sure that I blame Lyon for trying to resurrect the giant murder monster. But really Levy, you don't need to worry about it."

"You're sure?" Erza gave the girl a strong nod and patted on her shoulder.

"I understand completely if you don't want to fight again, not everybody is cut out for it. Mystogan is one of our strongest mages but he almost never takes any combat missions if he can help it. This wasn't even supposed to be a combat mission, we thought we were breaking a curse. If that had been the case then we could have been the ones who struggled. You should not keep beating yourself up." Levy nodded, her eyes darting back and forth between the two teens.

"Yeah… thanks. Thank you both." Gray smirked at the girl and sent her a lazy wave.

"You don't really need to thank us, we just said the truth. We have no reason to blame you for anything that happened." Levy smiled gently and sat back down with a little sigh. Erza returned to her own spot a moment later and Gray turned his focus onto her.

Erza's smile had already dropped off the face of the world and been replaced by a cloud of gloom. Gray sighed, it was pretty obvious what her problems was and he didn't have a clue about how to begin to approach it.

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As Erza stared at the campfire without truly seeing it. Her mind was filled with the sound of Goku's voice.

_Erza… why didn't you tell me? _

For the life of her she didn't know. When Gohan had asked her to cut off the tail she hadn't truly questioned it, she had just assumed that he knew best when it came to the child he had raised. While she could never have known exactly what the reason behind the request at the very least she should have questioned. What right did she have to make that kind of decision? Even Makarov had been pushing her to confess for a while and he had been completely uninvolved with removing the tail since the very first time.

_Grandpa always told me that the closest friends trust one another with everything. _

Trust. That was another word that had been echoing in her mind for some time. Trust… the word was awfully short for something so meaningful. To be able to trust someone completely, to know that you can tell them anything, to know that they will listen, to know that they will not judge you unfairly. It was an incredible thing.

But for her…ever since Jellal's betrayal, distrust had slithered deep into her mind, coiling around the memories of that pain and warning her to always, always be wary of another betrayal. In the few days between landing on the shore so many years ago and meeting Goku the experience had already hardened her heart, made it difficult to trust anyone. It took her months to really begin letting Goku in, even with how much he had helped her. To this day she had never worn anything besides armor around him, the thought of taking it off around other people terrified her, that snake inside her head always hissing in distress at the thought.

The only person she fully trusted was herself. That was why she didn't tell Goku, why she worked so hard to make sure he didn't find out. She was afraid. Afraid that he would leave her like her last best friend.

And now she had betrayed him, broken his trust. It was an unsettling thought, she had never truly acknowledged her actions for what they were until now. But they were betrayal.

And yet, a part of her argued for the necessity of her actions. The giant ape, no, the monster Goku had become under light of the full moon… it was dangerous. It had driven him to kill his grandfather without even knowing it. And she could see what might have happened: Goku, alone on a mission resting in a quiet village on the night of the full moon and going out for a late night jog, and in the morning…

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocents dead.

Her actions had been for the best, that was not an excuse, merely a statement of fact. Her actions had not been wrong, not truly, a part of her insisted.

But that did not make them acceptable. Just because her choice had not been wrong did not mean that it had been right.

It did not mean she should be forgiven.

_I need to think for a bit, I'll see you guys back at the guild in a few days._

Would he really though? What if he thought about it and decided that he didn't want to be with the guild anymore? If he just left, and it was her fault. Then her friend would be gone and the rest of the guild, how would they react when they found out?

Even if he did come back, how would he act? How angry was he? Would he even be willing to talk to her again? What could she even say to him? 'Sorry that I kept chopping off parts of your body for the last few years.' No. He had every right to be angry with her for what she had done. If he chose not to forgive her she would have to accept it.

Erza squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ward off the wetness that was beginning to build up behind them.

"You know he's probably already forgiven you by now right?"

Erza's eyes snapped up to see Levy smiling at her weakly. Gray, who had been trying to think of something to say ever since the end of their last conversation, just watched from the sidelines, hoping that the bluenette would be able to set things straight.

"I don't think Goku's capable of holding a grudge. He forgave Natsu when he accidently blew up Nimbus, he forgave Gray for turning his house into an igloo. The way he acts, I wouldn't be surprised if he would be friends with someone who tried to kill him as long as they apologized first."

"How…?"

"What else could you be so worried about?"

"But I betrayed him." the words rushed out of her, burning all the way.

Levy sighed, "Yes, you did. But you've got to remember that you didn't do it to hurt him, intentions do matter and I think why you did it matters more than what you did. I know Goku thinks that."

Erza stared. Her actions didn't matter? How could that possibly be true?

"So… Goku might forgive me?" She couldn't see how it was possible, but…

"I can't promise that, but I think it's likely."

Erza turned back to stare at the fire. Forgiveness. The thought of it…

She suddenly felt tired, the actions of the day welling up in a tidal wave of exhaustion that nearly made her collapse on the spot. She forced herself to her feet and moved off.

"I'm going to sleep."

"That's probably a good idea." Gray yawned. "Think I'll do the same."

Levy nodded as well, and shot one final glance at Erza. "Things will look better in the morning, Erza. I promise."

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As it turned out, Levy was right. The morning brought clear skies and warm weather. There was still a lot of destruction spread around the island, but the lack of a giant demon trying to kill everyone meant it didn't look so bad.

The trio set out early and managed to make it back to Magnolia by the following afternoon. Gray went straight back to the small room he rented and carefully put down Ur's final ice shard with no small amount of reverence.

"Ur… wherever you are, I'll make you proud." The teen left the room and made his way towards the guild, a feeling of contentment coursing through him. He never saw the slight flicker of light from the shard in response to his words as the door swung shut behind him.

Erza went straight to the table that Cana and Lucy were sharing and placed a small golden key before the Celestial Mage. The blonde's eyes bugged out when she saw the artifact and with a squeal she snatched it up from the wooden surface.

"No way… where the heck did you get this?"

"I just came back from a mission and this was one of the rewards. None of us had any use for it, so we figured that we would just give it to you."

"Really? Oh thank you thank you thank you! Cana, check it out! That four golden keys now!" Cana let out a loud burp and wiped some wayward beer from her face before giving a slightly slurred reply.

"Yeah, that's real nice Lu. Do you think maybe it would want to help us go through all the beer we got from our last job? Actually, nah. We should keep it all to ourselves, just the two of us!" The teen immediately snagged her mug and drained it in a single pull, followed by a loud sigh of satisfaction.

"Yeah… that's the stuff." Lucy giggled into her hand before turning her focus back to Erza once more.

"Thanks so much for this! This guild really is the best, everyone is so awesome!"

"It's really no trouble at all. Actually, I meant to ask you. I noticed that your keys look very similar to one that I had been gifted a few years prior. Maybe you could take a look and tell me what it is?" Lucy blinked before beaming at the older girl.

"Definitely! Bring it by whenever, I'm pretty sure that I owe you at least one by now."

"Never feel that you owe me anything, we are members of the same guild and we should always look after one another." Erza reached into her dimensional space and pulled out a short chain, a red key dangling from the end. Lucy quirked an eyebrow as she accepted the proffered item and rolled it over in her fingers a few times, examining it from every angle. Lucy frowned

"I think it might be some sort of Celestial Key, but not like any I've ever seen before. Do you mind if I hang on to this for a while? I want to research it a bit before I see if I'm right.

"Couldn't you just summon it now if that were the case?" Cana asked, glancing over the top of her mug.

"Well yeah, but I don't recognize the key. It could summon something I can't control or get rid of. Not all spirits like humans and I'd rather know what I'm dealing with so I don't accidently let something loose. I'll let you know as soon as I find something."

"That is agreeable, thank you for your assistance."

"Yep, no problem! Now if you'll excuse me, Cana's teaching me how to she's able to drink so much and not get drunk!" Erza turned to the brunette and watched her fill up her fourth mug since she'd approached.

"I always just assumed that you had an unnaturally high limit."

"Nope, it's a technique I developed so that I could extend the buzz I get from drinking a whole bunch. As long as I maintain it right, I'm almost never sober or hungover!"

"That… doesn't really surprise me at all actually. Well then, I shall talk to the both you later, enjoy your downtime." Two mugs were raised to the knight as she departed and went to converse with Mirajane at the bar.

Levy had been joined by Jet and Droy within 30 seconds of arriving back in town and the trio had been off wandering the town for the last few hours. Jet and Droy begged to hear every little detail of her trip and she shared the details of exploring the island and her own fight with Sherry. She went no further than that though, and the pair was so wrapped up in their amazement at their leader to care too much when the story failed to continue. None of them spotted the dark eyes that followed them at every term into the late hours of the night. They never saw the dark figure that tailed them, never heard the clang of metal as the citizens settled in for the night and they found themselves alone on the streets. They didn't hear anything at all before the dark figure leapt from the rooftops to strike.

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Goku sat deep in thought on the back of Nimbus as the pair soared through the sky. He had said that he needed a few days before he would return and that was true. But already he had decided that he was going to forgive Erza.

But he wasn't quite ready to yet. He just… needed some more time.

She had been looking out for him, her method wasn't great but she had meant well. But he had to admit; it had probably been for the best. He had no memory of the fight with Deloria, or of ever turning into that giant monkey before. That meant he had absolutely no control over it and that was really dangerous.

He could remember a couple of times he'd gone for a stroll in Magnolia on full moon nights. If he'd had his tail any of those times…it would probably have been bad. After all, this transformation had already killed his grandpa.

Goku sighed, staring down at the ground. "Grandpa." He murmured, his eyes growing wet. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew it was true. He'd killed Gohan. It wasn't a nice thought, but there was nothing he could do to change it.

But at least he knew his grandpa still cared for him, why else would he have come back to give him advice as a spirit? Gohan wanted him to be happy above everything else, so that's what he would do. Goku would honor his guardian and mourn his death, but he wouldn't waste time moping over something that had been forgiven for more than a decade. So he would continue living to the fullest, and he would make sure that his mentor didn't sacrifice his life for no reason.

And most importantly, he would make sure that he never killed another innocent like that again.

Goku continued to muse to himself as he gently turned away from the peak of a nearby mountain and headed out over a large pine forest. He didn't really know were he was going, he'd just told Nimbus to fly. The cloud had obliged, carrying him wherever it wanted.

A small, high pitch sound caught his ear as he continued over the trees. Goku cocked his ear as it slowly grew louder and rose up to his feet to look around below him. He was greeted by the sight of a terrified looking man in a dark cloak flying straight up at him, screaming at the top of his lungs. The man crashed into the teen head on and knocked him off the cloud, sending them both tumbling to the ground below. The man bounced through the trees and branches like a pinball, eventually slamming into the ground and out of consciousness. Goku was luckier, he didn't hit any of them. He missed the trees, missed the branches, and missed all of the various rocks that were scattered across the ground. The only thing he managed to hit was the ground, head first at a high enough speed to leave a decent sized crater in the ground.

When Goku pulled himself up he grabbed the unconscious man and widened his senses into the woods. To the north he detected a large group of energy signatures, though the number seemed to be dropping the longer he observed it.

A fight.

Goku grinned widely and dashed through the trees, dragging the unconscious man behind him. This was just what he needed to take his mind off his issues. In a matter of minutes he found a small clearing with a dark tavern looking building placed in the center. The ground was littered with men and women alike garbed in the same dark cloths as the unconscious man on his shoulder.

There was only a handful of the cloaked people left standing, spread out in a rough circle around a thin teenage girl. The girl was maybe 16, dressed in an elegant white dress shirt, long black leggings and a small backpack slung over her shoulder. An empty sword sheath hung loosely in her hands as she turned calculating eyes to each of her opponents in turn. One of the cloaked women behind her raised a hand and let loose a stream of fire to the girl's unprotected back. Almost lazily the girl turned and raised a hand at the approaching attack. The flame curled as it neared her, looped back into the air and suddenly redirected itself straight towards its source. The mage gave a startled squawk before the blast collided with her and blasted her across the across the field. The girl didn't give the others a chance to move before she dashed forwards and lashed out with the sheath, taking them out one by one with a single accurate strike a piece. In a matter of moments she had clear the field and turned to face Goku. The spiky haired fighter gave a cheery grin to match her blank stare and tossed the unconscious man at her feet.

"Hi there! I was flying on my cloud Nimbus over this area and this guy kinda flew up and crashed into me. He looks like all of the other guys around here, so I thought maybe I should bring him back."

The girl blinked. "He and all of his compatriots are members of the dark guild Harpy Feather." She said, "I was helping the local authorities with taking them down, they should be here soon to pick everyone up."

"Really, you took down a whole dark mage guild by yourself? Not bad. And none of them gave you trouble? Usually a dark guild like this has at least one really strong mage that makes the rest look pathetic by comparison."

"I believe that was the one you were carrying just now, he was the only one that was capable of landing a blow."

"Oh… well alright then. My name is Son Goku! Who are you?"

"My name is Kagura Mikazuchi."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! GOKU JOINS KAGURA IN A QUEST INVOLVING A LEGENDARY BLADE. MEANWHILE, HOW WILL LEVY AND SHADOWGEAR STAND AGAINST THEIR SURPRISE FOE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: ARCHENEMY.

AN: Yes I introduced Kagura extremely early. My reasoning? I'm not sure actually, I just felt like putting her in. It will most definitely be messing with the timeline here though.


	17. Archenemy

AN: Little later than usual but I was busy writing what is probably the last chapter of my other lengthy story Superhuman Fight Club. In case any of you are interested in reading about more Dragon Ball Z levels of destruction and fighting, that chapter's matchup was between Thor, Wonder Woman and SSGSS Vegeta. Drop by over there, check it out, and leave a review to let me know what you thought. It would be really cool if that story could reach a 100 reviews right as I'm done with it. Thanks a bunch to anyone who does.

Responding to reviews:

Guest-Like the Frieza saga how exactly? I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean by that.

Guest-If I could write these any faster I would. Real life can be a real pain sometimes, I don't have nearly as much time for this as I would like. On the plus side though, as a side I have been working on a special chapter Escalation that will be at a minimum twice the length of the average chapter that I put out. So you have that to look forward to at least.

Saiyan fan-The team will not be the same for the Oracion Seis, you'll see who later. As for the Oozaru, I have plans for it later. Whether they involve mastering it or not, you'll just have to wait and see. Kagura being in the Tower of Heaven arc is a definite possibility, I'm still trying to work out the exact details of what I want to do. She will present for other arcs before the Grand Magical Games though. As for the healing magic, that is a very interesting idea. However, I have another character in mind for a role like that. Goku is a fighter, he doesn't also need to be a healer. However, you are spot on about the potential of the gravity manipulation, but not quite right with the execution. For the Edolas arc, there will be a Kakarrot, but that is all I'm willing to say on the subject.

Ching saiyan: SS5 is just a fan made thing, unless you are talking about Super Saiyan God. Either way I won't be going past the original Super Saiyan state in this story.

To readers in general, in the future if any of you have any complaints about my writing style I would appreciate it if you would tell me upfront. I'm always looking to improve, I want to know if there is something I can do better.

Thanks to everybody for sticking with me, and a special thanks to all of those who reviewed. Enjoy the next chapter.

CHAPTER 17: Archenemy

Kagura was careful to never let her back face the orange clad teen while they were helping the Rune Knights load up all of the Harpy Feather mages up in paddy wagons. He seemed friendly enough, but that meant nothing. Nobody would help others so freely without wanting something in return. He wanted something from her, there was no question in her mind about that. It was only a question of what.

After locking up the last dark mage Kagura made her way over towards the Rune Knight Captain, taking a roundabout route that never let anyone too close to her.

"Sir, I have dealt with the criminals and would like to collect the bounty now."

"Hmm? Oh, you're that girl from town aren't you? Don't worry little girl, the Rune Knights have taken care of the criminals."

"What? Sir I have taken out these criminals and I would like the bounty now."

"Children shouldn't be walking around picking fights with dangerous criminals, that's what we Rune Knights are for. I think that you'll find that the Knights did their job and eliminated the threat, meaning there is no need to pay anyone a bounty."

Kagura's eyes narrowed. Slowly, casually, she shifted her left foot back slightly and gave her knees a slight bend, sinking into her stance. Her hand crept towards the empty sheath she carried while her shoulders rolled slightly, testing to make sure the straps of her backpack were out of the way. "Without a thought you would claim all of the credit? You told me that I could get 5000 Jewels if I could take out these criminals for you. What happened to our deal?"

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. I mean, do you know how irresponsible it would be of me as a Captain in the military to recruit an unlicensed teenager to get involved in fights to the death with vicious thieves and murderers? It's simply unheard of, impossible. No girl, the military took down and that's all there is too it."

"I needed that money! I cannot continue my journey without any sort of supplies or resources!"

"There's nothing I can do Miss. I am unable to pay a bounty to someone like you. If you truly are that desperate I suppose I can offer you some of my own money." The man pulled out a small purse with a handful of coins, maybe 50 Jewels in total. The scowl of the young girl deepened when she looked over the meager amount of cash.

"How am I supposed to live off of this? This would barely even pay for my lunch, let alone allow me to complete my journey!"

"Well, at least you got a free meal then. Have a nice day Miss." Kagura was barely able to restrain herself as the soldier walked off to the front of his squad and started their march back towards their outpost. She wanted desperately to go after them, to force them to give her the bounty. But she knew that nothing good could come from threatening the law enforcement.

"What am I going to do now…?" She muttered, glaring at the knights.

"Do you need some help?" She glanced back and tried not to frown. That Goku person was standing behind her, smiling widely. Without any more distractions around her, she looked him over in detail. Kind eyes and a wide smile, whether they were honest or not she could not yet say. He had a thin red staff on his back, no noticeable runes, markings, or any other indicator of magic anywhere on its length. A sturdy weapon against a normal foe, though it would likely be unable to hold up against a serious assault. The gi and calloused hands suggested the Bo staff wasn't his choice of weapon, instead it indicated one who specialized in hand to hand combat. His stance indicated experience, the casual ready stance of a person who was ready to fight at any moment no matter the occasion. A dangerous person, though one who would likely not attack first. The once over had taken just over a second, though it was unlikely that it had escape his notice.

"You didn't leave." She commented, her voice flat and questioning.

"Well I was about to, but then I heard how upset you sounded and thought I'd see if you were alright." Despite making her posture seem relaxed Kagura was coiled like a spring, ready to move at any moment. She was alone with a stranger in the middle of the woods, she would not be dropping her guard any time soon.

"It is nothing, just my plans to leave the country and get to Nbanu have been delayed for the near future."

"What are you doing over there?"

"I just have a pair of…errands that need to be taken care of." Goku quickly scrutinized the girl, giving her a once over similar to the one she had given him moments before. Kagura squashed down her nerves from that gaze along with the curiosity of just what he had seen.

"Hmm… NIMBUS!" Kagura cocked an eyebrow at teen's sudden shout towards the sky. Goku just stared up expectantly into the sky and the dark haired girl craned her neck upwards, trying to spot whatever it is he was looking for. A small putting sound reached her ears and she turn towards the forest. Over the trees a small yellow cloud burst into sight and came to a stop right between the two. Kagura looked at the little ball of puff curiously and took a few careful steps towards it.

"It's cute." She murmured softly, reaching out an uncertain hand to touch the cloud. Her lips curled up into a smile at the cottony feel of the cloud and giggled when Nimbus made a content purring sound. Goku's lip turned upward at the sight and after a few seconds he was confident that his idea could work.

"Hop on." Kagura glanced up at his happy smile then back to the little yellow cloud. Goku chuckled at her obvious confusion only to receive a glare. In demonstration the older teen walked over and stepped up on top of Nimbus and held out a hand to Kagura.

"Come on, see if it will let you ride!" Cautiously the girl grabbed the outstretched limb and climbed atop the cloud. She gently bounced her heels, trying to determine how the cloud was holding her up.

"Nimbus only lets people it likes ride. But now you don't need to worry about getting to Nbanum. If we go full out we could probably get there in a few hours, but most people can't really handle going that fast. I think Levy said sometime about G-Force and the sound barrier or something… oh well it's not that important. At the fastest 'safe' speed it should only be a couple of days."

"That is a very generous offer…but I have no way to pay you or do anything in return. I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

"What? Why would I want anything in return? I'm offering to help, I don't need anything in return."

Impossible. People always wanted something from her, nobody ever helped her for free. There was no possible way that he would take her a quarter of the way across the globe just because he wanted to be friendly. There would be a price, he would try to take something from her.

"Oh wait! There is one thing!"

And there it was. Which would it be this time? Would he try and take one of her precious few belongings? Some future undefined favor? Yet another leering request for her body?

"I want to spar with you at some point whole we travel!"

"...What?"

"You seem pretty strong, you beat that big group by yourself. So I want to see how good you are myself!"

"I… I suppose that will be acceptable." She did need to get to Nbanu. The thought of putting her trust in this stranger and his cloud was galling, but so was the thought of traveling on foot with no money and little food for months. She could always jump off the cloud if she had to, she had nothing to fear from falling.

"Great! So where are we going anyways?"

"I need to get to the Metallia Mountain. It is only a few miles inland and it should be very easy to identify from the sky." Goku nodded and Nimbus began to move, lifting the two up into the air and taking off across the landscape.

"Yeah, I think I've been around there before. I was doing a job to take out some group of slavers with some of my guild mates." Goku couldn't see Kagura's eyes narrow when he mentioned the slavers. "We took them out pretty quick, they weren't very strong. But Erza was real happy when we busted all their prisoners out, she's had some pretty bad experiences with slavers."

"Has she?" Her cold tone bounced off of him unnoticed as he nodded.

"I first met her when she was on the run from a group of slavers actually, I helped her get rid of them. She never talks about it, but I'm pretty sure that something happened to her. She had an eyepatch on when I met her until I accidently gave her a weird healing bean."

"Do you know anything about these slavers? Did you find out where they operate from?"

"Nah, never asked them any questions that I can remember. We just took them down and that was that."

"Have you encountered any other groups like them?"

"A few, there always seem to be a bunch around this side of Fiore."

"This side?"

"I don't think I've had to deal with them anywhere else, but I guess that doesn't mean that they aren't there. I can't say for sure."

"That's…enlightening. Thank you for the information."

"Why are you so interested in the slavers anyways?"

"That is none of your concern." Her harsh tone finally seemed to register with Goku, he glanced back at his new companion. Her eyes had narrowed into slits, glaring down at the world as it sped by below them. Her body had tensed up and her right hand kept clenching into a fist then relaxing, over and over again. Frowning to himself Goku faced forward, watching as the ground turned to ocean beneath them. Apparently Erza wasn't the only one with past troubles with people like that.

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Hours later, a man stumbled into clearing, his black cloak flapping lazily around his shoulders. He paused looking at the damage around the clearing. He blinked, weren't there supposed to be a bunch of mage guys standing guard outside the headquarters?

He strolled up to the tavern, there was a paper stuck to the door.

"The Dark Guild: Harpy's Feather has henceforth been disbanded by Captain Joffery of the Rune Knights. Glory to the Captain" He read.

The man sighed, scratching the back of his head. That sucked. Now he was gonna have to make someone pay.

With that he faded away in a gentle breeze, disappearing into the sky.

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Goku certainly was a chatterbox.

Kagura had spent hours listening to the man prattle on about anything that caught his interest. She ended up drifting off to sleep in the middle of a story about a giant bear he'd once wrestled with a friend. When she woke up her groggy mind had panicked at being in midair with a stranger and she had nearly punched Goku right off the cloud.

"Good morning!" He cheerfully said, her fist still clenched tightly in his hand. She grunted her own greeting and ripped her hand away. Goku shrugged to himself and turned back to what he was doing. He had brought the cloud lower to the water and was standing with his staff in both hands, staring at the waves intently. After a few moments he swung the pole around it extended, sending one end straight into the water. With a flick of his wrist three fish were flung high into the air and fell victim to a trio of Ki blasts that left them very well done. Nimbus dipped slightly to allow Goku to catch the fish as they flew by and he passed one over behind him to Kagura.

"Breakfast!" The younger teen nodded silently and pulled out a small knife to remove the scales before nibbling on her morsel. She mentally took note of what she had just seen. His staff was magical after all and therefore probably more durable then it looked. He could also shoot energy from his hands and he hadn't summoned a magic circle to do it. A rare talent, not totally unheard of but it showed a competence with such a skill that was worthy of note. He was more dangerous then she had first thought.

As she ate an idle memory entered her mind, a picture of her brother standing beside her over a decade ago. The pair moved around their tiny kitchen, preparing a big breakfast before they planned to head out and meet with some of their friends. It was one of the last times she remembered smiling without reservations, just happiness. It took her some effort to tear herself free from the memory and when she did she found her eyes had grown misty. Scowling she wiped them clear again before biting into her fish more savagely.

Goku merely ripped the his two fish apart with his bare hands, moaning happily as the juice of the meat dripped down his face. Kagura quickly discovered, like many people before her, that it was better to eat facing away from the young man to keep from losing her appetite. As they finished their improvised meal Kagura tried to tune out Goku's rambling of how someone called Happy had taught him many secret techniques on how to catch fish. Eventually, Kagura got to the point where she could no longer take it without comment.

"Goku."

"Yes?"

"You have done nothing but talk about your friends, yet you leave for who knows how long to ship a stranger part way across the world. Won't they be worried if you suddenly just vanish with no warning?"

"Well… I kinda left them for a while. I had a fight with my best friend and I needed some time to cool off. I was planning on heading back to see them eventually, but then I ran into you." Kagura furrowed her brows, catching the all too familiar tone of sadness in his words. It really wasn't her business though, it had nothing to do with her. But he was trying to help her though…

"What did you fight about?"

"She was keeping secrets from me. I guess you could say she betrayed my trust. I needed a few days to fly around and think about what I'm gonna do." He paused for a moment. "It has helped. I think I understand why she did what she did. I don't like it, but I understand. It was a big deal, but it's not worth losing a friend over, I've already decided" I'm going to forgive her."

"I see." Kagura didn't press for details. "I'm not sure I could do the same in your situation. I do not give trust easily, and I wouldn't give someone a second chance if they broke it. Are you sure that you can continue to trust her, even when your friend has proven that she is capable of breaking that trust?"

"Of course! She was actually trying to help me out, she just went about it the wrong way."

"Interesting. Even so, many would not be so quick to forgive as you are, and you haven't even heard anything from her yet in her defense."

"I'm willing to give my friends the benefit of the doubt. But what about you though? You have any friends?"

"I…no. I haven't had time for friends, I've been on the move around the country for the last decade."

"What, seriously? You don't have any friends at all? I've been traveling all over the place too and I've made all sorts of friends!"

"That is not an option for me, I have neither the time nor the patience to develop friendships while I am trying to accomplish my objectives."

"Well what's so important that you're doing anyways?" Several expressions flashed across the girl's face, expressions that Goku could not read but others might identify as indignation, anger, confusion, and then reluctant acceptance. When she spoke again it was so softly that he could barely hear it.

"I just want to save my brother." Goku was silent for a while, letting a few puzzle pieces fall into place before replying.

"The slavers?"

She nodded. "A huge raiding party just attacked my village one day out of nowhere. They killed most of the adults and captured the rest, even the children. I was the only one to escape, another girl had to sacrifice herself so that I could. My brother was one of the ones taken, so I decided to try and find them…" Tears formed in her eyes only to be whisked away in the wind as they sped through the air. Goku's face scrunched up the pure emotion in her words reached his ears.

"But I knew I couldn't save him as I was, so I've been training. All the time I'm training and trying to get strong enough so that I can free him when I find him, so that I can free _everyone_! That is my only goal, my only desire. I just want to see my brother again."

"So that's why you're coming out here then? You found out that your brother is somewhere on Nbanu and you're going to rescue him?"

"No, the group operates solely in Fiore, I know for a fact that he's somewhere in the country. But it doesn't matter anyways…I couldn't rescue him right now even if I knew where he was. When trying to find their base I've learned a bit about their organization. I've heard a lot of rumors that whoever is in charge is an S class mage, I cannot compete with that at my current level. So while I was trying to find my brother I was also trying to find something that would allow me to fight at that level as quickly as possible… and I found this." Kagura reached into her pack and pulled out the hilt of a katana along with several pieces of a splintered blade.

"This is Archenemy. It's an ancient weapon designed centuries ago as a way for humans to be able to stand up to demons and dragons alike. Its cutting power is so great that it can function like another sword while sheathed, capable of slicing through armor like tissue paper. But when out of the sheath the sword can cut through anything, even a dragon's scales. It was rumored to have been destroyed by a surprise attack from a great black dragon and it vanished for centuries. But then a few months ago I found it."

"What, like, laying on the ground?"

Kagura shrugged. "More like in the ruins of a razed city. I took a sliver of it to a blacksmith to have it analyzed and he told me that the sword was made from a rare metal only found in small quantities in the Metallic Mountains of Nbanu. Nbanu does not trade with Fiore, especially not with such a rare metal. So I'm hoping to recover some of the metal myself so that I can repair the blade. With it, I may stand a chance."

"Sounds like one heck of a weapon. But why do you have to do this alone though? Couldn't you just request a job to a guild to take care of it?"

"A job to the guilds? The guilds, above anything else, are a business. They may save people and work for others, but they do it for a profit and for prestige. If I wanted to request a job I would have to post a long term job with very few leads and an almost guaranteed fight with an S class mage at the end. A job like that would be classed as S class at a minimum, SS or higher would be quite likely. The amount of Jewels to fund such a mission is in the hundred millions, it would take me years to raise such an amount. Even if I joined a guild myself, there is no guarantee that they would help and they would also take a large portion of whatever I earned to help fund themselves. At least if I do this myself I know for a fact that something is being done about this now, not being put off over and over until the money is raised." Her voice dripped with enough venom to lay even Deliora out, some past experience obviously still angering her now.

Well, that meant there was only one thing left to do.

"I'll help you find him if you want."

Kagura blinked, staring at him with incredulously.

He just smiled back.

"I told you before that I have no way to pay you. Neither you nor your guild would benefit from it." Kagura said slowly, as though she thought he couldn't quite grasp this point.

"That doesn't matter, I want to help. I can help you get your family back and I even get to fight someone really strong in the process, it'll be great! I can even ask some people from my guild to help, Erza would definitely want in just because of the slavers and Natsu and Gray would probably have a contest to see who could beat up the most guards. Erza and I are S class by the way, so we're plenty strong. If I harass enough people around the place I'm sure someone could help us find out where the base is."

"You… you would really do all of that?"

"Sure thing! What are friends for?"

Kagura just stared at him, as though she herself couldn't grasp the concept at hand. "I…uh…thank you. I am… not sure what to say. But… if your offer of aid is genuine, then I will gladly accept your help.

"No problem. So, what's your brother look like? I can't find the guy if I don't know what to look for!"

"It has been a long time since I last saw him, but he has brown hair and eyes and his skin is darker then mine. That's really all I can say, I don't know how much he's changed while growing up. As for his personality, you honestly remind me of him a bit. You both seem to be driven by a strong desire to help people."

"That's cool, I hope I get the chance to meet him. It's not much to go on, but hopefully we can find something. So, how are you going to fix Archenemy? Do you need to take it to a blacksmith after?"

"No, a blacksmith couldn't accomplish the task. It takes a certain kind of magic to shape the blade, a magic that I thankfully possess."

"Oh cool! It must be super rare and powerful if it's needed to make a weapon like that, what is it?"

"I can manipulate gravity surrounding an object. The metal of the sword is almost impervious to physical damage, even when super-heated like for a forging a regular sword. To shape it you need more force than almost any human can produce. Using gravity magic though, one can greatly magnify the force delivered to the metal, enough that it can be properly manipulated."

"So it lets you hit stuff extra hard?"

"Not exactly. I could increase the weight of a hammer during its downward swing to increase the force of the blow, but if I used that power on myself I'd become heavy and it would become hard to move."

"So it would be like wearing weights?"

"In a basic sense, yes."

"That's sounds perfect, you can use that for training!"

"…What?"

"Well you said you wanted to get a lot stronger right? So if you use your power on yourself then it would be like weight training! You could get a whole lot stronger if you do that long enough! It would help get you up to S rank a whole lot faster."

"I've never even considered anything like that. I'm not even sure if that would be safe."

"If you want to get as strong as you can you have to make EVERYTHING a training exercise, that way you're always getting stronger. I figure, as long as I don't stop training I'll be able to protect my friends and beat any threat that might come."

The rest of the trip consisted of Goku giving training advice to the younger teen, methods that he had developed himself through nonstop dedication and almost pathological desire to improve.

Hours later as the sun was beginning to set Nbanu came into view. Nimbus dived down and brought them to the very center of the mountain range, coming to a gentle stop a foot off the ground. Kagura quickly hoped off and began to look around at the massive peaks surrounding them.

"Thank you very much for helping me get here. When I return to Fiore I'll go to Magnolia and if you are serious about your offer we can see what we can dig up."

"What are you talking about, I'm not leaving yet."

"You're not? But shouldn't you get back to your friends?"

"It's getting dark and besides, it's not like I'm on any schedule to get back. But I want to help out with the sword too, and you still owe me a fight!" Kagura paused for a moment before sighing and setting her pack onto the ground.

"Very well. I suppose that we can get in a spar before I try to find dinner." With a smirk Goku hopped off the cloud and allowed it to depart back into the skies, waiting for the next time it would be called. Both teens stretched out, loosening tight muscles after hours of inactivity before sinking into their respective fighting stances.

Goku allowed the girl to make the first move and the girl charged forward swinging the empty sheath in an overhand blow. Part way through the swing she increased its gravity, adding enough force to the blow to draw an appreciative grunt from the martial artist. She followed with a series of jabs, her face passive as Goku dodged or deflected each strike. Suddenly his body felt twice as heavy and in his surprise a strike passed his guard and caught his rib. Goku snaked his arm out and grabbed the sheath, pulling it in and Kagura with it, knocking her off balance. An open hand strike immediately connected with her gut and the girl doubled over, struggling to catch her breath. Goku took a few steps back, watching her closely as she straightened her back and leveled her weapon at him once more. Before she moved her gravity powers flared again, reducing Goku's weight to nothing. Then she dashed in, swing her the sheath and knocking the surprised fighter up into the air, unable to control his movements.

Goku waited for a moment before acting. When his rotation had his legs aimed at the sky and his torso aimed at Kagura he flared his Ki behind him, propelling him through the air fast enough to catch the girl off guard. As he slammed into her the gravity manipulation failed, allowing Goku to pin her to the ground and rip the sheath away from her. Her shocked face at the sudden and rapid defeat was barely acknowledged as Goku went to secure the win. He calmly aimed a glowing palm at the girl until she nodded, acknowledging her defeat. Goku stepped back and offered her a hand, pulling her back up to her feet and returned her weapon to her.

"Alright, a few things. First, your balance isn't properly centered. You were leaning on your right too much, it made it easier to pull you off balance. Next, you were too slow with your attacks. Even when Archenemy is fixed, someone can beat you if they move fast enough. Your attacks were lingering out in the air for just long enough for me to grab them, you have to pull away your weapon just as fast as you thrust it out. You were very tense the whole time, your muscles were tense. That will slow you down and tire you out faster in a long battle. You need to be loose when you are moving, then tighten your muscles only when you are blocking or landing a strike. It takes practice but it helps you move easier and increases how long you can fight. Last, you need to work more on your defense. You're self-taught right? It shows in your style. You haven't really fought someone on your level before, at least nobody good enough to give you any trouble. Because of that you were unprepared to guard against me.

On the other hand, your style was obviously made with an actual sword in mind, so it's probably awkward to use with just the hilt right now. Your footwork was quick and fluid, you didn't misstep once. Your use of your powers was really good too, I was caught off guard by it twice even though I knew what to look for. Overall I'd say you did pretty good, I'd rank you as a high B or a low A mage for both power and technique. A lot of mages only have one or the other, so having a grasp of both could give you a bit of an advantage. I'd say you could be an S class mage in just a few years, maybe even faster if you found someone to train you!"

"Thank you for the information, but how could you tell that much from a fight that didn't last a full minute?"

"My Grandpa taught me that it's really important to be able to analyze and pick apart someone's fighting skills after only a few moments, so that you can counter their moves as quickly as possible. It took me a few years to be able to do it like that, but it gives me an advantage when I can spot flaws in someone's defense after just a few seconds."

"I see. Would it be possible for you to teach such a technique?"

"I dunno. I've never had to teach it before. It's kinda hard to teach because everyone has their own unique fighting style and it takes a lot of experience to be able to pick them all apart just from sight. I've helped other people in Fairy Tail before with stuff like form and endurance training, but nobody has ever asked me to teach them anything about my fighting style. A lot of it is just being really observant. I can give you pointers and help you out with it whenever you want, but how good you get at it's going to depend on you."

"Very well. It's getting too dark for us to begin searching for the metal I need tonight. Can you give me some tips as we make dinner?"

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As Goku and Kagura discussed fighting tactics and hunted for food, miles away Shadowgear was wandering the dark streets of Magnolia. Levy smiled to herself as Jet and Droy strolled behind her, begging her for every scrap of information they could get about the last mission and complimenting her endlessly for any little thing she did. After everything that had happened over the past few days this was doing wonders for helping restore her confidence.

What would happen next would not.

A loud metallic clang behind them was all the warning they got before a club smashed into the back of Jet's head, knocking him out into a small but rapidly forming pool of his own blood. Levy's shriek was drowned out by Droy's roar of rage and the skinny mage sent a barrage of vines at the sudden attacker, hoping to ensnare him and pin him down. But the attacker broke free with a sneer of contempt, slashing through all of the plants with a blade sprouting from his arms. Then the blade turned into a spiked club that crashed into the plant mage's head and sent him toppling to the ground.

Levy took a few steps back, her right hand creeping towards her pocket as the attacker turned away from her downed teammates and focused on her. Stalling for time she called out "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

The figure took another step towards her and she could finally make out some details on him. Long spikey hair flowed down his back, a black jacket, and metal studs pierced though his nose and replacing his eyebrows. His appearance was vaguely familiar, maybe a famous mage from another guild. Unfortunately she didn't have the time to try and figure out exactly who.

The man finally rushed the bookworm right as she finally found the item she was searching for. Less than a foot away from her the attacker saw a scarlet red quill thrust before his face before he was consumed in a fiery explosion.

Levy saw the man fly back towards the end of the street and bounce off a wall before smashing into a trashcan. Sighing in the relief the girl hunched down to check on her teammates. The damage wasn't as bad as it looked, neither were in critical condition. All she had to do was get them back to the guild and then-

Movement.

In an act of instinct drilled into her from constant surprise sparring matches Levy flashed her quill across her thigh, granting her just enough speed to leap out of the way of a blade that would have cut her in two. Spinning on her heels she turned to face the enraged face of her attacker right before another fireball smashed into his face. On guard this time it only sent him back a step and soon he was charging towards her again.

Levy fired off another trio of fireballs, the script flowing naturally from the phoenix feather, but when they all detonated on the same spot, one after another, she knew that her opponent hadn't even budged this time. In desperation she fired again and again, unleashing the entirety of her flame based arsenal: explosion, fire, detonation, pyro, igneous, flare, until she both her vocabulary and her stamina were left exhausted. Twenty blasts flew forth from her pen until she was struggling to stand upright and the stones in the walkway had begun to sizzle. As Levy tried to catch her breath the smoke from the flames began to fade away, leaving an entirely metallic figure stalking towards her, blackened with soot and grinning. As her vision began to fade her memory finally clicked into place. Gajeel Redfox of Phantom Lord. The Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Well, maybe the Fairy Trash isn't quite as pathetic as I thought, maybe this is gonna be fun after all." Gajeel sneered, pinching out the still burning ends of his hair.

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Kagura woke to the smell of cooking lizard. Her back was stiff, the hard ground of the Metallia Mountains made rest difficult. She forced herself to her feet with a loud crack of her joints and rose to see a snake wider than her torso and longer than a train car over a giant bonfire.

"Morning Kagura! I found this crawling around near you this morning, he looked pretty hungry. But then I thought that we didn't really get a big dinner last night, so this guy would be perfect! I was about to wake you up, it's just about done!"

"You found that giant snake…killed it… made a fire large enough to cook a feast…and did all of this without waking me up?"

"Yep! It was weird too, I thought you would have woken up a lot easier than that, being a traveler and all. No big deal though, eat up so we can get to work on your sword!"

With a snake steak big enough for three, Kagura left most of her meal untouched as she watched with a sort of terrified fascination as Goku devoured enough food to feed a small village. He never slowed, never tired, he just ate and ate until every last bit had vanished into the black hole that was his stomach. Then he was on his feet, ready to dash off to try and find the supplies Kagura needed.

"Alright, my original plan was to sneak into a mining facility near the edge of the mountains to 'borrow' everything I need. The metal is supposedly only found in the very center of the mountains, it'd take weeks to get through that far to get enough for the sword."

"It's in the center? That's easy then!" Goku held a hand out before him and formed an oversized Spirit Ball, equal in size to even the largest humans. Then with a little push he sent it slowly towards the nearest mountain. With no resistance the ball slowly dug into the mountain, a cheery martial artist and stupefied swordswomen walking behind it. A few hundred meters in the Spirit Ball began to fluctuate, growing dimmer before it was sucked inside a vein of a pure white metal. The vein flashed blue for a brief second before fading again, leaving the teens in darkness. Goku tried to light up another ball of energy as a light source but once more it was quickly devoured by the metal.

"So… that's probably it right?"

"I believe so. Now we need to get it out side somehow. If I manipulate the pressure around here with my gravity magic I might be able to get it to fall apart piece by piece. Then we could just carry them all outside." Goku looked at the faintly glowing vein in the rocks for a moment, thinking over the girl's plan.

"That sounds too slow. Let's try this instead!" The martial artist through a barrage of punches that perfectly outlined the vein before he ripped it straight out of the wall. Once again the fighter led the way back to their campsite, his bemused companion trailing behind him.

Somehow, she had felt it would require a great deal more effort to get the metal, but…whatever, they had it now so she supposed it didn't matter.

"So," Goku said. "How exactly are we going to get the make the blade?

"Almost all of the forging will be done by my magic. The problem is that the ore itself isn't pure, there are more common metals, such as iron and copper mixed in. If I shape those into the blade it will just break, so they must be separated out. We need to heat all of the ore until we melt everything that isn't the metal we need. Until it is purified and given shape the metal will have just the smallest degree of flexibility. I'll shape what's left with my magic and then fuse it with the hilt. The fire you made for breakfast should work for now, it seems like it will produce enough heat."

Returning to the campsite, Kagura fetched the sword fragments and pulled out a small metal tub specially designed to survive the temperatures that they would need. They took the tub and hooked it to the power pole, using its length and near indestructibility to put the pot in the very center of the flames. It sat there through most of the day, surrounded in a blazing inferno that the martial artist tended to every hour. In between the two practiced and sparred, Kagura intent on fixing every possible flaw in her skills. She needed to be a warrior that matched the power of her blade. It was the only way to match an S class mage, a powerful weapon wouldn't be enough by itself. For however long he offered it, she would accept his help and improve as much as she could.

It was late afternoon before the pair finally decided to call their string of matches to a halt. Kagura collected Archenemy's hilt from her bag and stood beside the towering blaze. Goku retrieved the Power Pole from where he had left it on the ground, slowly extending the weapon until it managed to hook the handle of the pot. Wincing slightly from the heat Goku reeled the staff in, bringing the red hot container over to them. Kagura stared at the pot anxiously as Goku carefully set it down atop a flat rock. Everything now depended on her and her powers. If Archenemy was to be properly reborn, she needed to get every single detail exactly right. She was confident in her abilities but the pressure required would be gigantic, perhaps training so hard right before this had been a mistake, but it was too late to change that now. Her timeframe for saving Simon depended on the sword, she needed its power. The girl closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to silence her nerves.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Her eyes snapped open again, a fire burning within that scorched away every feeling of doubt. She gave her traveling companion a single sharp nod and the pot's lid came off.

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The man materialized inside of the local Rune Knight barracks, his cloak flapping around him as if in a sudden breeze. His appearance didn't go unnoticed; the Rune Knights all around him stiffened at the sudden intrusion.

"Hey guys." The man smiled, "I'm looking for a guy named Joffery; apparently he's a Captain. Is he here?"

"That would be me." The man looked over and saw a fancily dressed knight sitting behind a desk and glaring at him. "Who are you?" Joffery demanded.

"Well, I'm-"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter. I can tell by your cloak that you are a member of those Harpy Feather mages, meaning you're a criminal."

"Oh well." The man laughed, scratching the back of his head. "You got me pegged there."

"I presume you're here to free your guild mates or some such nonsense."

"I was kinda planning on more of an avenging them kind of thing really."

"Fool." Joffery scoffed. "We took down every one of your guild mates without a single casualty. And you expect to defeat us alone? Men, arrest this idiot."

The Rune Knights surrounding them saluted and advanced, weapons drawn.

Then as one, they collapsed.

"So that was fun." the man said, grinning at suddenly very lonely looking Captain, "I guess that just leaves you buddy." He took a step forward.

"N-no wait! This is clearly just a m-misunderstanding!" Joffery yelped, falling backwards out of his chair in an effort to get away.

"That right?"

"Yes! We only arrested your guild mates, we aren't the ones who took them down."

The man paused, tilting his head to the side. "Okay, I'll bite. Who was it then?"

"A young teen, a girl. I never caught her name. She attacked your guild."

"Uh huh. And what did this girl look like?

"Young, black hair, carried around a sheath with no sword, dressed mostly in white. I don't remember much else."

"Okay, and why did this girl do that?"

"H-how should I know?"

"Really? A girl takes down a bunch of dark mages and the Rune Knights don't even investigate?" The man took another step forward, causing Joffery to scramble backwards until he hit the wall. "Smells suspicious if you ask me."

"She… she took them down to get a bounty."

"Eh, fair enough. How much did she get for them?"

"I, uh, we didn't pay her."

The man nodded to himself, clearly mulling over what he'd been told. "So let me make sure I got this. A young girl single handedly took down my entire guild, in order to collect a bounty from you, which you didn't pay even though she did your job for you?"

Fearfully, the captain nodded.

"Okay…that story is so dumb I think I have no choice but to believe it. Guess I'd better go find her then. Sorry for bothering you." He turned and strode toward the door but paused at the entrance. "Oh yeah, one last thing." He swept his hand back towards the Captain and suddenly Joffery was swept off the floor, slamming into the ceiling with a crunch only to be yanked back down and to the floor before he was blasted backwards through the wall.

"If you're gonna behave like that, at least have the decency to call yourself a criminal like I do." With that the man spun around and vanished into thin air

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! SHADOWGEAR HAS BEEN DEFEATED BY A MAGE FROM PHANTOM LORD. WHEN FAIRY TAIL FINDS THEIR COMRADES RAGE SHALL FILL THEIR HEARTS AND REVENGE WILL BE ON THE MIND. MEANWHILE, GOKU AND KAGURA TRY TO REMAKE THE WORLD'S STRONGEST SWORD, UNAWARE THAT A FORCE OF VENGENCE CHASES THEM THROUGH THE SKIES. WILL THEY BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THIS UNEXPECTED THREAT IN TIME FOR GOKU TO AID HIS FRIENDS? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: DECLARATION OF WAR.

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Kagura has always been a favorite of mine, so this took me a lot of work to get it to where I was happy with it. Just to clear up any confusion, I'm going for a sibling like relation between the two, at least until Simon shows up. All bets are off then. However, Kagura is not being considered as a potential romance at any point in this Fanfiction.

Is anyone watching DB Super right now? The fight scenes (with the obvious exception of Episode 5) have all been really good and the series has been pretty enjoyable so far. Plot is enjoyable for the most part too, I've really liked seeing all of the characters back in action after so long. However, is it just me or is Goku even dumber? He was never the brightest guy to begin with, but at least in Z he showed mental progression and I could believe he was growing up. Now though, it seems like he is acting as he did throughout the original Dragon Ball, I've found it very strange. Not necessarily a bad thing, it's had a few funny moments, but I kinda wish that he had continued to mature instead.

Yes, I am throwing another OC villain at you. Last one I have planned for the near future though, and all of them will have their purpose later on in the story.

Fun fact. If you take the word Unobtainium and then remove ever other letter, you get Nbanu


	18. Declaration of War

Finals, Christmas, and writers block all taken together are the reasons that this came out as late as it did. I'm not going to apologize for taking so long, but I will say thank you to everyone who waited so patiently for this chapter. I hope that I don't disappoint.

Guest: I touched on Vegeta a tiny bit in chapter 1 and I was planning on giving him an omake later on about him. Without Goku to challenge him he would win on Earth, get his hands on some Dragon Balls, wish for immortality, and abuse the hell out of his zenkai boost with it until he eventually became a Super Saiyan, murdered Freeza.

Guest: Vegeta will be coming into the story in another way besides just the omake mentioned above. I have plans for him later on, though not in a way most people will expect.

Guest: While the image of Gray and Juvia doing the fusion dance is hilarious, it fortunately needs to be done by people the same size and (I'm assuming) the same gender. Fusion dance will be a factor later on though, it's something I'm looking forward to.

Also, I have no idea how magical super swords that can fire off slicing shockwaves are formed. So please don't get too annoyed with me if it sounds like I'm making this up as I go, because I totally am.

Dear Guests: When leaving a review, please try and leave a name behind so it is easier to differentiate you when I am responding to questions. Thank you!

**CHAPTER 18: Declaration of War**

Magnolia was all but shut down. Shops had closed, windows were being boarded up. Families locked up their homes and in the entire city not a single child was playing in the street. For near the center of the town, blood dripped down an old weathered tree. The mages of Fairy Tail surrounded it, shock, horror, and rage covering each and every one of their faces. For hanging from the tree was Team Shadowgear. Large, metal clamps were crushing their wrists against the harsh bark, the darkening bruises covered up by the drying streaks of red that coated most of their arms. Their clothes were torn up and their bodies were covered in grime, mixing with cuts and scrapes that littered their skin. And most prominently, a large, dripping mark had been painted onto Levy's bare stomach. The mark of Phantom Lord.

The mages looked over the scene, every last one of them wanting to help their injured companions out but too shocked to even move. Powers were flaring up with emotion around the courtyard. Fires started up only to be turned to ice. Sparks of energy danced across the ground, liquefying the stone. But the greatest concentration of power came from Makarov. A yellow aura filled the air and his muscles flared, veins bulging across his forehead. Suppressing his rage for a few moments the old man reached up and gently removed the three battered teens from their suspended position and lowered them down. Several mages darted forwards, taking Shadowgear from their raging guardian and rushing them to waiting doctors as fast as they safely could. Makarov watched them go, bloodshot eyes tracking the retreating forms until they disappeared out of sight. The second they were gone he spun on his heels, marching straight back for the guild. After a few moments his charges followed him, like little ducklings after their mother.

The old weathered doors slammed open with enough force to shake the hinges as Makarov stormed in and walked straight over towards the bar. He opened up a secret compartment underneath the counter and pulled out a single dark bottle. His personal whisky, imported from the other side of the globe, crafted by a powerful mage who was able to magically enhance his brew to surpass any other in both taste and potency. A single bottle was worth more than a month's pay and the old man saved it for only the most special occasions.

Or the most dire.

As those he considered his children quietly filed into the room and took up positions around the bar Makarov popped off the cork and began to take long, slow pulls from the bottle. The guild was silent except for quiet footfall and the consistent glugs of a vanishing liquor supply. When the entire bottle was drained the old man stopped and looked at in in mild surprise. Weary eyes looked over the old guild hall, meeting the eye of each and every mage for just a moment, just long enough to share their pain. No one looked away though, each one of his brats shared the same anger and they would not turn away from it.

"My children… today we've been struck a grievous blow. You all saw what happened to Shadowgear. Even now we don't know what kind of condition they are in or how long it might take them to recover. If they will even fully recover at all…" For a moment the words were choked up in Makarov's throat, and with glistening eyes he continued. "Phantom Lord. They've never liked us, always whining about how they should be the sole strongest guild of Fiore. You all know I couldn't care less. Let them bluster all they want, it doesn't matter. They are only words. It never mattered, it was just like the jealous whining of an annoying sibling.

"But now they have attacked us in a way that truly matters. Our family has been hurt. So now we have a choice. The Council rightly forbids any sort of inter-guild combat for the safety of the general population. In these kinds of situations we are supposed to report the incident and let them handle matters. But we all know my opinion of the Magic Council! A big enough bribe and the matter will be buried so deep that I'll be dead and buried before it ever sees the light of day. Instead, I want to pay Phantom Lord back in kind! We shall not let them get away with this unpunished! Fairy Tail… are you with me?"

A deafening roar filled the air, shaking the foundations of the entire city. Heart swelling with pride at their loyalty Makarov thrust his staff up into the air and he matched their cries with a bellow of his own.

"Very well! Then Fairy Tail is at WAR!"

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While the mages of Fairy Tail were gathering their forces for their trek across the country, Kagura was draining every bit of magic she had into the shaping of her sword. For half an hour she had suspended the white-hot blade in midair, hovering within the massive camp fire, even with all the heat applied to it, shaping the metal was an uphill struggle. She could feel herself trembling and her body screaming at her to stop, her magical core tapping into her very life energy just to sustain the force for a few minutes longer.

To make it even harder, she could feel the blade sucking in her magic. The metal of the blade felt… alive somehow. Like it was somehow merging with her magic even as it took shape. It seemed to be altering the very nature of the blade, making it hers in more than just possession. Never in her life had she felt anything like it, the ancient magic was so foreign, so different, that she could barely even comprehend it.

She could feel Archenemy like it was an extension of her body. She had heard that expression linked to swords before, but never had she thought it could feel so literal. She could feel the energy she had put into the sword, as well as exactly how much more would be needed.

As though the sword was challenging her to finish the job.

Energy, she slowly realized, that she didn't quite possess. She was so close, but it would take a huge surge of energy to ignite the final bonding and make Archenemy whole once again. The stress of unleashing her gravity magic for so long had push Kagura further than she had ever gone before, it had shown her a whole other level to her power that she hadn't even known she possessed. Had she waited even just a few more months she would have been able to tap into it on her own and she'd likely have no trouble in restoring the sword to its former glory. But somehow, she could already feel the sword beginning to slip away from her. Her magical connection with the blade had begun to slow and waver. It was as though the sword was telling her if she failed to finish it now, she'd never have another chance to have such a connection with it again. She needed help.

For the first time since she had begun Kagura cast her eyes around, groaning a bit as her eyes tried to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. Blinking rapidly she spotted her temporary companion completing a set of one-finger push-ups. A large pile of logs was stacked besides him, he must have been using those to keep the fire going, she hadn't even noticed.

"Goku!" She croaked out. He glanced up at her and hopped back up to his feet. As he made his way over she took a big gulp of air and gasped out at him.

"I'm almost out of power…I can't finish the sword. So close…just need a bit more…"

"Do you need me to try to channel some energy into you?"

"No…don't know if my body could handle that now… the sword. I'm channeling the energy into the sword. I just need… to trigger the final bonding."

"Alright, what do you need me to do?"

"The ore absorbed your power before…that can be the catalyst. Hit it with everything you got…that should be enough."

"Alright, I can do that. Let's give it a shot!" Goku cupped his hands by his waist and sank down into a crouch.

"Ka…me…ha…me…ha!"

The blue beam shot forwards the blade and split apart the moment it made impact. Strands of energy wrapped themselves around the glowing metal like a cocoon. Goku's brow furrowed, and he pumped even more energy into the attack. More strands burst forth and wrapped around the blade, hiding it from view. The fire blew out, leaving the clearing glowing in the blue light of Goku's power.

Kagura felt more than saw Goku's Ki embracing the blade. Her eyes were closed in concentration, reaching out to the sword as it swallowed the energy with an almost hungry greed. When Goku boosted his attack her eyes snapped open and she gathered up the very last drops of power she had left.

"HYAAAAAHHHH!" The entire mountainside was bathed in a pale blue light as she cried out, the sword in the center like a blazing sun. Then abruptly it ended and the unnatural light vanished like lightning. In it's place lay a perfect, gleaming sword. Kagura stared at the completed weapon for what felt like hours, reveling in the strange new connection she felt forged within herself.

It felt like the blade was staring back. She felt like it was giving her an approving nod, as though it was saying: 'You'll do.'"

A small, bubbly giggle escaped her lips before she passed out from sheer exhaustion.

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Mirajane's face was blank as she watched Erza lead the assembled mages from the guildhall down towards the train station. A few years ago she would have been right up at the front, side by side with her one time rival, ready to deal justice to anyone who had dared to hurt her comrades. Heck, she would have been far ahead of them, beating the crap out of Phantoms long before her friends got there. Now she was left behind to care for the wounded, an S class mage left to clean bandages and wash sheets. An S class mage forced to wait behind while her baby brother went to war.

Elfman was near the front of the pack as they marched out, yelling out votes of confidence to each and every member of Fairy Tail, trying to inspire them to be the man he drove so hard to become. The man that he wished he was when Lisanna died.

Lisanna. It always came back to Lisanna.

Her single greatest failure has always been that moment. Elfman may blame himself for not being strong enough to control the Beast, but her failures were the one that put her in that situation to begin with. She knew the Beast was dangerous, the thing had single handedly wiped out an entire platoon of Magical Knights. She should have gone in full power right off the bat, the creature likely would have been flattened in an instant. But it was the first time she had been allowed to bring her siblings on an S class mission since she had gotten the rank. Her powers had grown greatly since she had last had a chance to travel with them and she had wanted to show off. She had toyed with the Beast, dancing around it and poking at it, treating the whole fight like a game. Elfman of course spent the whole time worrying, but Lisanna had laughed and like a fool Mirajane had turned to smile at her younger sister. That single moment of distraction was all the Beast needed to utterly crush her. Elfman had been forced in to save her life, and then Lisanna had died because of it.

In her heart, Mirajane knew that the wrong Strauss had died that day.

"Hey…Mira?" Mirajane blinked and looked around. The sunlight coming was almost nonexistent now, who knew how long she had sat around staring into space. The former Take Over mage's eyes found the concerned gaze of Lucy and small, apologetic smile formed on her lips. In an instant her self-loathing was gone once more, and the cheery barmaid personality took hold.

"Oh Lucy, I didn't see you there! How are you?"

"I'm fine I guess…I'm just worried. All of our friends are out there and we can't do anything to help them out."

"Yeah…I know it's tough, waiting like this. But Cana and Natsu were right to ask you to stay behind. You don't have enough experience to go into a full scale battle against another guild. They don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well what about them! I don't want to see them get hurt either! How can they tell me to do something that they wouldn't do themselves! Why is it okay for them to risk their lives but they won't let me do the same thing for them!"

"Since you joined those two have been your best friends' right?"

"…yeah."

"Both of them joined Fairy Tail when they were small children, with no possessions and no family to speak of. In fact, that's true for almost every single member of this guild. Those two have been travelling around the country, fighting and growing stronger for a long time. On top of that though, they've found family here. A family that they consider you a part of. To them and just about everyone else here family is the most important thing. That's why everyone was willing to go to war for what they did to Shadowgear. You've only been an official mage for a few months and you've barely had any real combat experience.

"Hey I've completed plenty of missions. I can handle myself." Lucy protested.

"You've fought bandits and monsters." Mira smiled. "This isn't going to be simple fight. It's going to be a full-blown crapshoot between our guild and theirs. Phantom Lord does in fact rival Fairy Tail in power. So there are going to be more than a few S class mages throwing their power around. Cana and Natsu don't want to worry about having to protect you."

"…damn it. I'm still holding them back aren't I?"

"Lucy-"

"No. No, you're right. I'm still way behind everyone else, I'd just get in the way. I get it. Thanks for the talk Mirajane, I think I'm going to go out for a bit of a walk. I'll talk to you later, alright?" Not waiting for a response the blonde bolted out the door. Mira raised her hand as if to stop her, only to allow it to fall limp as the door slammed closed.

"It's something you and I have in common." she finished to the empty hall. Mirajane gazed at the door, contemplating going after Lucy but ultimately decided against it. She had nothing that she could say that might fix things, in all likelihood she would just make it worse. The former Take-Over mage got up with a sigh as she made her way over towards the medical wing. She had sat around for long enough, it was time to do something productive with all of her nervous energy. She idly gave thought to calling in all of the members of the guild that weren't present in the invasion party put ultimately decided against it. There was no telling where any of them were or how quickly they could get back. Besides, almost every active member of the guild was present for the attack. With the element of surprise, they should have no trouble.

Now if only this rainstorm would let up.

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Goku sat quietly tending to the campfire as he waited for Kagura to wake up. He had laid her down a bit further back from the remains of the fire and had gingerly placed the newly reformed Archenemy beside her. The energy he felt coming off the blade was bizarre; a strange, violent mixture of powers that fluctuated so much he couldn't even properly measure it. He could sense Kagura's connection to it, unfamiliar energies he assumed were from the blade's previous masters, and even a bit of his own power.

The thing felt like a living bomb.

"Heh, I can't wait to see just how strong you're gonna be!" Goku grinned at the sleeping swordswoman. Kagura merely snorted in her sleep, reaching out to grab Archenemy and pulling it to her. Then he frowned, glancing up at the sky. Something was coming, and coming fast.

Searching the sky he spotted a dark blot growing steadily bigger. As it drew nearer the breeze that was gently rustling the trees began to whip itself into a gale. Goku coughed as some of the campfire's ash blew into his face. He got himself ready, as the blot grew bigger taking the shape of a man in a big black cloak.

That just screamed trouble.

The man stopped in midair, the wind coming to a sudden unnatural stillness as he hovered above the clearing and looking down at Goku and Kagura. Goku tensed, ready to spring into combat at a moment's notice. The man raised his hand.

"Hello there." He waved.

Goku blinked.

The man lowered himself to the ground. "So…" He began; he spoke with the voice of someone who had absolutely all the time in the word. "What's going on here?"

Goku blinked again. He felt like he may have misjudged the situation somehow. He shook his head. "Who are you?" asked.

"Oh! Right, I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? The name's Bellos; yours?"

"Goku."

"And what about sleeping beauty over there?" he nodded at Kagura.

"Why are you asking?"

"Well, I have this group of friends you see. I'd been away from them for a while, doing work and such. But when I got back, I found out that they had all been arrested!" he finished, spreading his hands outward with a sigh and shaking his head.

"You're a member of that dark guild, Harpy Feather, aren't you? I recognize the cloak."

"Got it in one, buddy." Bellos smiled. "Which brings me to what I'm doing here. See I went to the local division of Rune Knights, just to see what's going on, and they tell me that my boys were actually taken out by a single girl: dark hair, young, carries around a fancy sword sheathe, and I can't help noticing that the girl over there happens to match that very description."

"So you want revenge then?" Goku grinned, grateful that they were getting back to familiar territory.

"I guess?" Bellos shrugged. "I mean… I don't care about my former guild mates that much. They were all kind of massive tools. But it's a matter of principle, if gets out that a single girl beat up my guild and I didn't do anything about it, I'll be a laughingstock. So yeah, I guess I'll have to thrash her, maybe take that fancy sword of hers or something, can you wake her up for me? Revenge feels kinda pointless if the she sleeps through it."

"Not a chance." Goku said, stepping in between Bellos and Kagura. "She's in no condition to fight right now."

"That wouldn't have to do with that giant explosion of light earlier, would it? That's how I found you, for the record."

"It might, but I'll tell you what. Why don't you fight me instead?"

Bellos shrugged off his cloak, "Whatever works for you buddy."

Goku sunk into a combat stance, analyzing his foe, without the cloak Bellos actually looked a lot smaller, in fact he was almost unhealthily skinny. He looked like a breeze might blow him over at any moment. "Let me guess." Goku smirked, "You're a wind mage."

"Close enough." Bellos smiled. "What gave it away, was it the flying? I bet it was the flying?"

Goku had fought wind mages before. They were easy to deal with: you just had to hit them really hard before they could start throwing their wind around.

His specialty.

He snapped into motion, throwing himself through the air and sending a snap kick right at the wind mage's face. Bellos only had time to widen his eyes before Goku's boot slammed into his face.

And burst right through.

Goku went flying onward, slamming into a rock wall and jumping off it. He looked back at Bellos' headless body, which turned to face him, the wind began to swirl around him and reformed its head.

"That was pretty scary." Bellos said, staring at Goku in surprise. "You're more aggressive than you look."

"Why'd you pop like that?"

"Why should I explain my powers? Seems kinda stupid doesn't it?" Bellos made a gesture and Goku felt himself lifted into the air and slammed back against the tree. Then lifted back and suspended in midair. He struggled but could get no traction, there was nothing for him to grab.

"So are you just a brawler or something? Cause if so you might be a bit outta your league." Bellos said conversationally.

"Oh, I'm just getting started." Goku pointed his hands away from the dark mage and shot a blast of Ki. The force sending him rocketing through the air, slamming his feet into Bellos' stomach.

This time Bellos burst apart completely. Goku felt the power holding him suspended dissipate and he dropped to the ground; landing in a crouch he frowned as the air rippled and Bellos reformed.

"Neat." Bellos said, before pointing at Goku and sending a blast of air screaming towards him. Goku hands snapped up to cover his face as he planted himself. The blast hit him like sandstorm compressed into the size of a water balloon, ripping his clothes to shreds and forcing him to focus his Ki into his body to prevent any serious damage.

Bellos stopped blasting and raised an eyebrow as Goku straightened himself. "You're sturdy." He conceded with a nod.

Goku's reply was two golden blasts of Ki that hit Bellos head on, instead of exploding, the blasts shot through him and carried him along with them, shooting the dark mage into the sky, Goku grinned, happy to making some progress, only for it to slide off his face as Bellos, floated back downwards, looking disheveled from his sudden flight, but not actually hurt.

"Okay, that was a bit embarrassing. A for effort, kiddo."

Goku narrowed his eyes. "You're not a wind mage." He muttered.

"Well I'm more of an air mage. It's like a wind mage's badass older brother. It was a pretty good guess though." Bellos admitted.

"So you're just a bunch of hot air then?" Goku quipped, stalling for time as his mind went into overtime. This was pretty bad actually. Trying to punch this guy would get him nowhere.

"Ooh, scathing. Like I haven't heard that one before." The Ki blast had blown him backwards. The heat probably sucked the air along with it or something, but it didn't actually hurt the guy.

That… didn't leave him a lot of options. At this point he would just have to try and outlast the dark mage.

"I think I've played around enough so I'm just gonna wrap this up right now, m'kay?" Bellos jerked his hand away from Goku.Goku tensed; ready to dodge the attack this time, only for his body to jerk painfully. He gasped, or tried to.

He couldn't breathe.

"It's a funny thing, air." Bellos commented, his voice sounding a long way away as he watched Goku choke on nothing. "People really take it for granted, it's always there. But they never realize how terrifying it is to lose it. I did, a long time ago, but that's another story."

Goku's body went into overload as it began to starve, his Ki flared wildly in an attempt to power his lungs, but there was nothing for them breathe.

His vision was going blurry and dark, there was no chance he had the concentration necessary to shoot off one of his attacks. Instead Goku focus every bit of Ki that was trying to save his body and _forced it out_.

A shockwave shook the mountainside. Bellos felt himself blown apart by the shockwave; he went spinning into the air. The dark mage forced himself to a stop just above the treetops, he held himself suspended upside down in midair. He blinked down at Goku, who was gulping down air like a starving man.

"Okay. That was pretty cool." He muttered, righting himself and floating back to the ground. "Not bad kid. That was my trump card right there, it's never failed before. I can't even do another one right now, do you have any idea how much energy it takes to create a vacuum? Doesn't matter though, you still can't hurt me. At best this just delayed the inevitable conclusion. I tried to give you a quick way out, but I guess I'm going to have to get a bit more serious.

"GOKU GET DOWN!" Normally Goku wouldn't follow an order like that so quickly, he'd at least check to see what was happening, but the sudden shout, coupled with the buildup of energy he could feel behind him, held such authority that he threw himself to the ground so fast he face-planted.

Kagura had woken up.

The swordswoman stood with Archenemy held above her head, the blade was literally crackling with energy as she brought it downward sending a slash of pure white energy ripping through the air.

Bellos instinctively forced himself to dissipate into air before he could be hit. But as the energy passed through him, he gasped in sudden pain. It felt like the blade shredded his insides even as it passed through him.

He choked, spitting up a bit of blood as he staggered backwards.

"Okay." He grunted, clutching at his stomach. "That actually hurt." He spat, glaring at the pair. "What the hell was that?" Neither of the teens responded instead they were staring open-mouthed at something behind him.

"What?" The man turned behind him, trying to spot just what had stunned them so badly. His gaze flickered around behind him, before stopping. He back-tracked. Double-checked. Triple-checked. His jaw nearly hit his chest as his brain failed to process just what he was seeing.

The mountain behind them had been split completely in half. A perfect, vertical line about a foot wide went straight through the rock, so cleanly cut that you could see straight to the other side where the next mountain had suffered the same fate. The man blinked owlishly at the damage before turning back to the two teens. More specifically, the girl carrying the sword. He looked back and forth between the blade and it's owner for a short while before deciding on a course of action.

"Screw this, I'm out." Goku and Kagura barely noticed as the man faded away into the wind and vanished. It was awhile before Kagura found her voice.

"Goku?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know anyone that could get me a good seal for my sword?"

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Lucy was unaware of the blue haired girl who started following her when she left the guild hall. The woman's jacket wilted in the rain as she tailed her query further into the town, away from the Fairy Tail guild hall. Further from her friends. Further from those that could save her. With a sad smile the woman closed the distance to the blonde and prepared to make her move.

"Drip drop."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! FAIRY TAIL'S ATTACK ON THE PHANTOM LORD GUILD BEGINS! BUT THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM, AND PHANTOM LORD ISN'T HOLDING ANYTHING BACK. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE COMING BATTLE, BUT THINGS ARE FAR WORSE THAN THEY FEAR. ARE OUR HEROES READY FOR THEIR GREATEST THREAT TO DATE? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, THE PHATOM MENACE PART 1: TITANIA FALL

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Shit's about to get real.

Please review!


	19. Phantom Menace: Part 1

Guest: I've actually mentioned that I was considering the Kaio-Ken as well as Super Saiyan. As it is now, both will at some point be appearing in the story.

Drew: Thank you for making an actual distinguishable name! It makes it far easier to keep track of who I am trying to address. Anyways, Vegeta will be making an appearance in a very small capacity and only very briefly. I have no plans to bring in any other Dragon Ball characters at this time. Well, expect for maybe Launch. It would help to explain where she disappeared to anyways.

Guest: Glad you liked my take on the sword being reforged. I always thought Archenemy was one of the most badass things in the entire series, I'm glad I'm doing it justice.

**Chapter 19: The Phantom Menace Part 1: Titania Fall **

Word of Phantom Lord's attack on the Team Shadowgear spread across the country quickly. While shadowy dark-guild wars were a common occurrence, such an open attack by official guilds upon another was almost unheard of. Already, many civilians and mages across the country were looking to the council to bring the guilds to order.

The smart ones, those who knew Fairy Tail, were barricading themselves in their homes.

Mystogan had been in the middle of a job when he heard. He gave his apologies to the client, and immediately departed. He knew Makarov, he knew that the chance of the council getting things under control was less than non-existent.

He knew that Fairy Tail was at war.

He also knew how it would happen, Fairies weren't known for subtlety, and nothing less than an all out attack on Phantom Lord's main guildhall would suffice.

He had no doubt Jose, Gajeel, and the Element Four would be waiting there for them. It would be difficult, but the Fairies should be able to prevail despite the odds. The only advantage Phantom lord had ever had was strength of numbers. Their guild had subdivisions spread across the country, far outnumbering ever other guild in the nation, let alone the single guildhall of Fairy Tail.

Which is why he was standing outside the guildhall of the western subdivision of Phantom Lord. He would take down every last Phantom here and then move onto the next who he would crush, and so on until every subdivision was gone. He would tear through their entire force like a hurricane until there was nothing left.

He owed his guild no less.

He took a single breath and stepped forward. He was strong, he needed to be to save this world from its encroaching devastation, and he would so strong an army couldn't break him.

The guildhall was predictably shielded, powerful wards defending the hall from scrying mages. By hiding how strong or how many mages were inside, it reduced the risk of dark mages or gangs attacking. But Mystogan was unworried as he unlocked the gate with a wave of his hand and made his way over towards the front door. Spending time breaking through the wards to scout out their strength was a waste of time he could better spend beating them all senseless.

…Perhaps Fairy Tail mindset had rubbed off on him a bit.

With a shrug of his shoulder he grabbed the smallest of his staves and swung it forward. The enchanted staff shattered the door to pieces and he barged straight through the hail of splinters, his staff glowing with charged devastation as he aimed it at the center of the room.

Aiming at nothing.

The entire guildhall was empty, and a thin layer of dust over the tables suggested that it had been that way for several days. With wary eyes he scanned the room, searching for any clue as to where his prey might have vanished too. He made his way to the center of the building and cast a tracking spell, trying to pin down when someone had been there last.

Mystogan didn't see the small red runes that appeared on the walls in the presence of his magic at first. He only noticed them when they had spread around the entire room and cast him in a crimson glow.

He barely had time to gasp before the hall imploded.

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The entire road from the train station to Phantom's guild hall was deserted. Like birds before a storm, the citizens had fled the impending violence. All the better in Makarov's eyes. Without citizens to get caught in the crossfire the council was slightly less likely to try and shut him down when all is said and done. It was still likely to happen, but if no innocents were harmed his conscience would be clean.

The guild master marched at the head of no less than forty Fairies; they wouldn't need any more to deal with this Phantom menace. He led them to the front door of the main Phantom Lord guildhall. For a brief moment the old man took a moment to admire the building, far larger and more imposing than his own quaint building. Too bad they had to reduce it to kindling. He made a mental note to remodel his own guildhall in the future.

"Well, here we are coming all this way to pay a visit to our friends in Phantom after they sent us such an impressive invitation, and yet they aren't even here to welcome us at the door. How rude, I better not catch you kids ever doing anything like that. Though, maybe they just don't know we're here yet. We should probably let them know. Natsu, could you do an old man a favor and knock for me?"

Natsu gave a predatory grin, somehow despite the smoke rising from the mage, his smile was cold. There was no cheer, no enthusiasm for the upcoming fight. Only anger and barely controlled wrath glared out from behind Natsu's eyes.

There was no explosion; one moment there was a door, the next there were ashes.

Makarov let his voice surge with power, and his mages followed suit.

"FAIRY TAIL HAS COME TO CALL!"

The Fairies filled the entrance and lined up with weapons gleaming and magical energy igniting the air. There were Phantom Mages all around the room, standing at the ready with magical weapons drawn and magic circles formed, glaring back at the intruders.

It looks like they had been expected, hardly surprising.

On the second story, two figures stood tall, smirking proudly down at the mages arrogantly encroaching on their territory. The first was a familiar face to the Fairies as the number one person on their hit list. Levy had only been conscious for a few moments in the time before the attack force had departed, but in that time she had been able to give a single name: Gajeel Redfox. Natsu, Elfman and Erza all glared up at the Iron Dragon Slayer, and he met each heated gaze with a smirk that couldn't be mistaken for anything but a challenge.

The other was a slimy looking man in blue with slicked back hair, a reedy looking mustache and a grin that would normally be seen on a snake. His eyes had locked onto Makarov the very moment that the miniature man had strode into the building. Likewise, Makarov hadn't taken his eyes away from the bastard before him that had ordered the attack.

The Master of Phantom Lord, Jose.

"Makarov, welcome! I was starting to wonder whether or not you would accept my invitation, I expected you two hours ago you see. I thought you would be in more of a hurry to avenge that precious trash of yours. But I guess those tiny old legs of yours aren't much good for traveling quickly are they?" Makarov had thought he had already reached the peak of his anger, but that oily voice had proven him wrong.

"I don't know what you expected to get out of this Jose. You couldn't possibly think that I would just turn the other cheek with three of my charges hospitalized. You had to know that this was coming."

"Of course I did, that was the plan. Best job that this guild has ever had."

"Job? You did this for a job? What job could possibly involve an attack on my family?"

"Oh, just a minor issue of returning a wayward heiress to her billionaire father. No need to worry, that is being handled as we speak. But in truth, I must admit I am not being as professional as I could be." The man shook his head dramatically. "This job is merely an excuse. The perfect excuse to take that perfect little guild of yours…**and leave it utterly annihilated before the unmatchable strength of Phantom Lord!**"

"Bastard… I'm not sure whether to mock overwhelming arrogance, your desperate jealousy of my guild, or your stupidity in evoking my wrath. What makes you think you would get away with this? In case you've forgotten, this will not be the first time we've clashed. I beat you in one shot, while I was drunk off my ass to boot. What's changed between then and now?"

"Two things actually. Prep time…and numerical superiority." Smirking, the greasy haired man snapped his fingers and with the sound of a thousand breaking windows the web of illusions outside the building shattered. All around the building dozens upon dozens of mages faded into view, weapons leveled at the suddenly vastly outnumbered Fairies. Makarov remained quiet as his comrades quickly formed a circle to guard each other's backs.

"…You've brought every last member of your bloated excuse for a guild here to fight us haven't you? I suppose I should be honored if you consider us that much stronger than you that such a thing would be necessary."

"Necessary?" Jose laughed. "No, not really, I just wanted to be…thorough. Truthfully, Gajeel here is the only one of my S class mages present at the moment. But you know the old saying, numbers are a strength all on their own. Now then, I think I'm going to retire to my chambers. Feel free to join me Makarov, we can catch up on old times while your guild is stamped out of existence. Let's see, who have you bring with you… Ah! The Titania! Gajeel, she can be your chew toy, everyone else can take out the trash."

Makarov trembled with barely contained rage as the man sauntered out of the room. His charges, now looking pitifully small compared to the hoards surrounding him, showed no fear as they stared down the Phantom mages. They would stand with him through this no matter what.

And they would lose.

"Erza, I need you to hold the line for me. We don't have the numbers to pull this off, I need to take out Jose if we are to end this."

"Understood. We'll buy you as much time as we can. Do what you need to do." Makarov nodded at the red head and gave his charges his widest fatherly smile.

"Alright then. FAIRY TAIL, SHOW THEM WHAT YOU CAN DO!"

The room exploded into chaos.

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Gajeel had to throw himself out of the way as the midget he had been smirking at mere seconds before suddenly rocketed up towards him in a wreath of crackling yellow energy. The old man didn't pause in his charge and barreled straight through the wooden door and into the boss's chambers. The Iron Dragon Slayer was about to charge after him when the first floor blew up. The collection of Fairies simultaneously fired off everything they had, completely leveling the front wall and sending a large number of Phantoms scattering. The Phantom mages both in the building an out stopped to gape for a moment at the display of sheer power before they rushed in to attack. In some places they were able to hold their own and push back the outnumbered Fairies, taking them out one by one. But a small group in the very center was holding, leaving waves of destruction in their wake.

A shirtless ice mage and pink haired fire mage were back to back, firing off massive waves of fire and ice that forced the entire division from the capital to make a hasty retreat. The hulking white haired teen was using massive scaled arms to shield the card playing witch while she unleashed a monstrous thunderstorm atop one of the groups from the border. A group of gunners and a pair of old geezers were keeping one of the mountain based groups pinned under a hail of smoke, bullets, and flame. But even so, as Gajeel watched he could see the wounds on Fairy Tail's strongest begin to mount up. It wouldn't be long, they would last another five minutes at the absolute most.

And then Gajeel locked eyes on Erza Scarlet. Clad in a pitch black spiked armor, the young woman was swinging a massive metal mace lined with 6 inch long wicked looking teeth. Flying around the building and the surrounding area like a wrecking ball, the warrior had already taken down over a dozen mages all by herself. Mages from this very division, considered the very best that Phantom could bring to bear outside of the elite S class.

Gajeel stared at the swords mistress like a lion eyeing a young, vulnerable gazelle.

She looked delicious.

And so the Iron Dragon Slayer of the Phantoms leapt into battle with the Queen of the Fairies.

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On some level, Erza knew she should not be enjoying herself. She should be serious and never let her emotions cloud her judgement, especially in an all-out battle with the largest guild in Fiore to avenge some of her friends. She was in charge on the ground here until Makarov won and returned to help them fend off the endless waves of Phantoms.

But the last week had worn on her bit by bit, the stress of the Deliora incident mounting on top of current events. Her stress levels were at levels unseen in almost a decade, not helped by the fact that she still hadn't been given an opportunity to talk to Goku and apologize with him yet. Rage at the condition of her friends went into the already unstable mixing pot and suddenly Erza desperately needed and outlet for her emotions; an outlet that the endless waves of attacking mages seemed all too happy to give her.

As she swung and oversized weapon like a baseball bat and sent another poor victim flying far into the distance Erza celebrated the fact that the world would never run out of idiots.

Catching motion out of the corner of her eye, Erza shifted her footing and swung the blade to catch the next attacker square on the neck with her next blow. When her brain processed the long black hair and piercing covered face it was far too late for her to adjust her aim.

Gajeel covered his entire body with the iron hard scales and caught Erza's incoming weapon with his bare hands. Grunting briefly from the effort the manically grinning Dragon Slayer opened his gaping maw and bit the Purgatory armors signature weapon nearly in half. In the same moment he lashed out with his right arm, shooting a nasty curved blade out of his wrist to catch the red head square in the chest. Erza winced at the impact, and Gajeel's eyes glittered with interest when his attack failed to pierce the devilish looking armor that the girl was wearing.

She used the momentum of his attack to roll out of range, dropping her ruined weapon and shifting back into her standard armor to meet his harsh look with her own. The rest of the mages she had been fighting spread out around her, confidence bolstered by the appearance of one of their guild's strongest mages.

"No…don't get involved. This one is mine. Go help the others go take out that pink haired piece of trash. Someone needs to shut him up before he gives me a headache." The Phantom's nodded, knowing from experience to back off when he spoke with that tone. Soon the area had been cleared and the two warriors squared off.

"Kekeke, that's better." Gajeel snickered, "Just me and my handy little meal ticket. What are you going to serve up next for me then? I can't wait to sample all of these delicious magical armor sets."

"Don't worry, I'd be more than happy to give you a taste of my power." A small silver lance appeared in her hands as she sunk into a combat stance, a playful smirk gracing her lips. Gajeel snarled in annoyance as he charged, head tucked down like an enraged bull. Erza slid to the side just before the moment of impact, slipping her foot right in front of the berserker's path to trip him and ramming the butt of her spear into his back for good measure. Gajeel summersaulted, his arms shifting into spiked clubs on the upswing. Erza brought her spear up to parry the incoming blows, only to cry out in pain when the weapon was shattered into pieces in her hands and the mace struck home on her shoulder.

The following blow crushed her chest piece into her ribs as it contorted under the strength of the blow, sending her stumbling backwards. Before Gajeel had the chance to follow up Erza quickly changed tactics, and with a cry of "REQUIP" she began to glow. Gajeel paused, watching curiously as a pale blue and yellow armor wrapped around her body, replacing her ruined gear. A larger, black and blue spear burst into her hands in a flash of light that she aimed at him with a flourish.

"That one looks tasty." He sneered, licking his lips in anticipation.

"I'm glad you think so, have a taste."

"Hmmm?"

With a crackling boom, a lightning bolt burst forwards and Gajeel suddenly felt like his entire body was a raw, vulnerable nerve ending.

While her opponent attempted to stop twitching on the ground Erza turned around to scan the battlefield, assessing the condition of her comrades. More than half of the Fairies had been taken down already, and the difference in numbers was becoming more and more apparent with each passing moment. Fairy Tail had gotten into a rough double circle formation, the strongest mages on the outside with the less powerful and the injured working as support on the inner circle. Nodding to herself in approval of the tactics, Erza noticed that Natsu seemed to be favoring one of his legs and that he was moving significantly slower than before. Shifting armors to Flame Empress Armor the girl cried out to get the pinkette's attention.

When Natsu looked over it was to a massive fireball blasting towards his face. Grinning widely the Fire Dragon Slayer inhaled as the attack approached, devouring the entire thing in an instant.

"AW YEAH, I GOT A FIRE IN MY BELLY! THANKS ERZA, I NEEDED- LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"

"IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!" Erza was blasted off her feet as the attack hit, the poor defense of the Flame Empress Armor leaving her vulnerable to the tornado of razor sharp shrapnel that consumed her. Barely getting her arms in front of her eyes in time, the girl nearly bit her tongue in half as dozens of cuts suddenly covered her body in an instant. Still she was able to bring a sword up to knock away the next mace as it flew towards her head and threw her foot out to kick the charging Dragon Slayer away. Even before he regained his footing Erza saw Gajeel beginning to inhale to an unnatural degree.

"REQUIP!"

"IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!" A massive shield burst into existence the second before the attack landed, and instead the tornado was scratched futilely against the magical barrier. Gajeel followed closely behind his attack, slashing away at the shield with a metal blade. Sparks flew through the air as each blow landed but the shield held strong and Gajeel scowled, redoubling his efforts. As he wailed away on the barrier he could feel his blades dull. Before he could rethink his strategy, Erza surged forward slamming the barrier into his face and knocking him off balance.

As Gajeel stumbled to recover Erza was covered by the tell-tale glow of a Requip once more and before the teen had time to react a massive yellow hand grabbed him by the face. Angry protests were unheard through the Giant Armor's gauntlet before Erza spun her opponent through the air and planted him ground hard enough to break steel. Before he had a chance to recover Gajeel found himself lightly tossed back up into the air before the giant gauntlet closed around his ankle. The Dragon Slayer was spun twice through the air to build momentum before Erza launched him through the air, sending him crashing through a cluster of Phantom mages like set of bowling pins.

The instant Erza let him loose she was moving, shifting into her flight armor for a brief boost of speed that placed her directly into Gajeel's path as the knocked his comrades to the ground. Once more shifting to the Giant Armor Erza threw a haymaker that landed square on the Dragon Slayer's face. The sudden impact would have turned a normal mage to mush, but Gajeel was far from ordinary.. He was wheezing in pain and several cracks ran across the scales on his face, but he still had the energy to glare up at her as she pointed her spear at his battered face.

Suddenly he relaxed, a grin working its way onto his face. Erza only had a moment of confusion before her body locked up in pain.

She never saw Jose standing triumphantly behind her, the burnt and broken body of Makarov dangling loosely in his left hand. And she never saw Jose's right hand, wreathed in shadows, before it punched straight through her back in a shower of dark magic and blood.

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"ERZA!" Natsu couldn't believe it, even as he watched one of his oldest friends crumple to the ground, even as he moved to catch Makarov's limp body as Jose tossed him carelessly away like a piece of trash. He simply could not comprehend just how badly everything was suddenly turning out.

Erza and Makarov, the two had always been unshakeable pillars of strength. Why were they on the ground? What was happening?

Jose smiled, flicking the blood off his hands and clapping them together. "Well then Fairies, I believe that's the end of our little game. Your master has proved his foolishness, running after me without a thought of how I might have prepared. Your Titania, your queen, lies in a pool of her own blood. You cannot hope to prevail now, you can only surrender or die." The final few Fairies glanced around at one another, hoping, praying that someone had an idea of how they could get out of the situation.

Natsu tilted his head towards his faithful blue companion hovering behind his head and whispered as quietly as he could.

"Happy, I need you to get Erza. I'll make sure that that slimy prick stays off you, just grab her and start flying away as fast as you can." Natsu didn't even wait for the whispered "Aye Sir!" Instead he met Gray's eye and then flickered his own over towards the Phantoms blocking the street. With the slightest of nods Gray slowly shuffled a few steps back to make sure he would have a clear shot free of any friendly fire. Cana and Elfman saw the movement and shifted as well, shuffling within easy grabbing distance of some of their downed comrades. Bisca quietly thumbed back the hammer on her sniper rifle while Alzack discreetly checked his magnums for ammo. All eyes were on Natsu as he stepped over towards the leader of Phantom Lord, his eyes on the ground as he trudged forward. Jose watched the strongest Fairy standing expectantly, the wide grin on his face not quite reaching his eyes.

He couldn't win this. Natsu knew he couldn't win this. But winning wasn't important right now, what mattered was escaping. They'd need a distraction, something loud flashy and destructive.

If that wasn't the calling card of a Fairy he didn't know what was.

"CRIMSOM LOTUS: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" The titanic wave of flames crashed against the shadowy wall that Jose through up, breaking apart on impact into a massive cloud of smoke and debris. The guild master was the only Phantom mage not coughing as the fumes forced their way into the lungs around the hall, his barrier stopping even the microscopic particles in the air. Still, the smoke obstructed his vision. Jose chuckled to himself as his shadows flew out to clear the air. He already knew exactly what he would find.

Sure enough, when visibility was restored every last Fairy had vanished. He sighed, shaking his head with a grin. Stubborn beyond all reason, typical Fairies.

Gajeel, finally back on his feet, stormed forward and began yelling for every remaining mage to help him pursue, only to pause when Jose raised his hand.

"Don't bother Gajeel, there's no point."

"What? Why the hell not? We've got that trash on the ropes!"

"Exactly. We've got them on the ropes. We've got almost all of them. But in case you've forgotten, a large number of their highest ranking mages were not present. Makarov foolishly thought that he could handle things with the people they had on hand and now he's paying for it. When they make it back to their guild they are going to call up every last member they can to their hall, hoping to bolster their numbers. They are going to put all their eggs in a nice little basket for us. Then, and only then, we will swoop down on the Fairies one last time. A final, decisive victory. And not a single Fairy shall be left to tell the tale."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! FAIRY TAIL IS IN SHAMBLES. WITH MORE THAN HALF OF THEIR MAGES DOWN FOR THE COUNT, WE HAVE REACHED THE DARKEST TIME IN GUILD HISTORY. WITH IT'S TWO STRONGEST DEFENDERS LAYING ON THEIR DEATHBEDS, A DESPERATE PLEA FOR AID IS SENT OUT ACROSS MAGNOLIA. MEANWILE, A DARING RESCUE IS LAUNCHED TO SAVE A FRIEND IN NEED. CAN THE BATTERED HEROES PULL THROUGH? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: THE PHATOM MENACE PART 2: PRISONER OF WAR!

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Hello all, this is Sturm and Drang back for another omake thing. Did you miss me? I bet you did. It got pretty heavy back there so let's break up the tension with a lighter story. Anyway, enough with the jabber, let's get to the story:

**Punch the Bullet**

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_ Several months after Levy and Goku started training together_

Goku and Levy were sitting in the guildhall library; Goku was once again struggling his way through another one of Levy's educational books. It wasn't a big book, but he still felt like the words were actively trying to keep themselves from being read. Though considering this was a magic library, the thought wasn't really so outlandish. His struggles were not helped by the monstrous excuse for a novel that Levy was reading. It dwarfed Goku's like a tree dwarfs a blade of grass. The fact that she was clearly breezing though it so much faster then he was through his book did nothing to assuage his annoyance.

It was like the giant tome was mocking him. Mocking him and his tiny little book that still managed to challenge him. Like it was sending out a fist made of words that would punch him straight through the eyes and into his brain. Unraveling the words that made up his being like he was cheap book whose binding was coming undone.

Goku paused, thinking over that last thought.

Goku decided that he'd read enough for today.

"Hey Levy?"

"Yes Goku?"

"I've been thinking."

"Uh oh. Did it hurt?"

"No, come on."

"I'm just kidding, what is it?"

"Well, training with you has been great, I've never thought about outthinking my opponent before, at least, not like you do. So I was wondering, do you think other members of fairy tail could help me train in different ways?"

"Well…hmmm." Levy paused thinking it through. "Yes, that's actually a good idea, you never know what kind of mage you're going to encounter so it's good forward thinking to practice against as many kinds of mages as possible so you'll be ready."

"Who should I ask first?"

"It really just depends on whose around, let's go see." Levy stood up, sliding a page marker into her book, she stood up. Goku already put down his own book and had rushed out the door.

He scanned the hall for a potential training partner. Grey was tussling with Natsu, which caught his attention immediately. He thought about joining in, but reluctantly decided against it. He trained with them all the time so he wouldn't be getting anything new out of it. Mira and Erza were the same, and they were out on missions anyway. That left…

Well quite a few options actually, Laxus was skulking off in a corner with three mages Goku didn't recognize, Macao and Wakaba were relaxing at the bar, chatting with a kid he vaguely recognized as Macao's son. Cana was in a serious looking conversation with Reedus the painter, waving around her mug with a frenzied purpose. There were at least a dozen other mages lounging around the guildhall that Goku recognized. Suddenly it occurred to them that he didn't actually know what most of his guild mates were capable of.

Goku's attention was always being snapped up by Erza, Mira, and the other regular brawlers he knew would give him a good fight. He'd never actually challenged anyone outside his close circle of friends. With such a wide variety of mages suddenly available to him, now he had no idea who to challenge. Shrugging his shoulders, the young boy decided to do what he usually did when he needed to learn something.

He asked Levy.

Levy hummed to herself, tapping her chin while scanning the hall. "You're used to fighting people who attack you head on. So I think you should looked for a mage who fights at range… Oh I know, come here." She grabbed him by the arm and led him towards one of the far tables. There was a pair of mages sitting there, a black haired guy in a poncho and a green haired lady in a cowboy hat. Goku had seen them around quite a lot but try as he might their names escaped him.

"Hey Bisca! Alzack!" Levy called, waving to them.

"Howdy there Levy." Bisca greeted, smiling brightly, Alzack just nodded quietly.

"Are you two free right now?"

The pair glanced at each other and nodded.

"I reckon so, what can we do for ya?"

"Well actually, it's Goku who wants something." They mages turned to him and he explained his dilemma.

"So," Alzack spoke up "you're looking to spar with someone outside you usual comfort zone? That's nice, but I'm not sure I'm up for a fight right now."

"Oh come on Alzy" Bisca cut in, "I think it sounds like fun! We haven't had a chance to cut loose in a while."

"Oh," Alzack replied, looking down and turning red, "Well, if it's all right with you Bis, then I'm all for it."

"Great!" Levy beamed, "Let's head to the sparring grounds."

"What? Why?" Goku asked, "We can just spar here, nobody will mind."

"Goku, master banned you from sparring in the hall last week remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

"What's that I hear?" Bisca asked her eyes alight with interest as they exited the hall. "Master actually banned someone from fighting. The heck did that happen?"

"Oh that's right," Said Levy, "You two were out on a mission last week. Well Goku got into a fight with Grey and Natsu at the same time and they broke one of the hall's support beams. He almost brought the roof down."

"I was wondering why one of the beams had a bunch of boards nailed around it." Alzack mused, then paused, "Wait, isn't the hall magically reinforced so that that doesn't happen?"

"It was a really great fight." said Goku, smiling as he remembered the fun times. "But never mind that, what kind of magic do you two use?"

"Well" Alzack drawled, before snapping his hand to his hips and whipping out something shiny and black, he spun it around his fingers before catching it and showing it to Goku. It looked a lot like a revolver. "I'm a gun mage, I form magic bullets that… well I guess you'll just have to wait and see won't you?"

"Cool." Goku turned to Bisca. Who smiled and held up her hand, a magic circle burst into life and a much bigger gun appeared in her hand.

"I'm a requip mage. Think Erza, except with guns."

"That's awesome," Goku beamed, "now I'm starting to get really pumped up."

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"So how do you want to do this?" Alzack asked. They'd finally arrived at the sparring grounds. Goku was performing warmup stretches while the two gunslingers prepared themselves.

"I was thinking we just fight until one of us has had enough."

"Who do you want to fight first?"

"First? ... Oh, I'll take you both on." The gunslingers paused, glancing at each other.

"…You sure you wanna do that?" Bisca asked, smirking lightly and raising a brow.

"Heck yeah! Levy can you be referee?"

"Sure. Is everyone ready?" Levy waited for every one to nod, "Okay, on your marks. Get set. GO!" Her quill flashed and the word go burst into being, flashing across the clearing with a white and black checkered pattern. Before it the word could even vanish, Alzack had whipped out a pistol and pointed it at Goku. The martial artist tensed, ready to dodge whatever crazy bullet came his way.

"Sunlight shot."

He was not prepared for the blinding burst of light that seared his eyes instead.

"Gah!"

"Blast bullet"

Goku threw himself to the side as several bangs ripped through the air. He felt several impacts splatter against his chest, knocking him back. Goku furiously rubbed at his eyes forcing the blurriness out. When his vision cleared he saw Alzack standing calmly at the ready with his guns held loosely at his sides. Bisca was nowhere to be seen.

"You alright?" Alzack was smiling faintly.

"Yeah. I'll admit you got me that time." Goku felt something dripping down his clothes, glancing down he saw they splattered with some purple liquid.

"Paint bullets." The gunslinger explained. "Thought it would be a good way to keep score."

"Cool, but how do we keep track of my points."

"No no, I meant keep track of points between me and Bis, we're trying to see which one of us can shoot you the most.

Oh.

Goku grinned.

It was so on!

He charged.

"Blast bullet."

Goku whipped out the power pole, twirling it fast enough to block the bullets.

"Mud shot." A stream of sludge came blasting towards him, Goku planted the pole and vaulted over it. Alzack snapped his gun upward.

"Whirlwind shot!" a blast of wind hit Goku in midair and sent him flying backwards, Goku spin around and slammed his feet against a tree, shooting himself back towards the gunslinger he charged up a ki blast and shot it off before Alzack could shoot him again. The gun mage threw himself to the side before it could hit. Goku used the power pole to vault himself towards the fallen mage. Before Goku could connect there was an enormous bang and something splattered against his back, the force of impact causing him to overshoot and hit the ground.

"You didn't forget about Bisca did you?"

Goku glanced back where the shot at come from, in the distance he could see a Bisca sitting in a tree toting the biggest gun he'd ever seen Bisca waved at him and he could tell she was smirking.

"That's not very fair."

"She's a sniper." Alzack replied, twirling his guns around. "You can't expect her to stand out in the open and let you attack her. That's what I'm for."

"I'll remember that."

And so the fight raged on.

Goku made sure to take mental notes as the fight dragged on. Despite having ranged weapons, Alzack was no slouch at close quarters fighting. He used those magic bullets to keep Goku on his toes. Wind, lightning, bursts of light; Goku was never sure what was going to come his way next, and Alzack was using them to keep him at a distance. He couldn't really block them with the power pole either, that only worked with the paint bullets. So he had no choice but to dodge them, which was a challenge in itself, because he couldn't throw himself into the air; it would just make him a sitting duck. Even, once Goku managed to get the hang of dodging them, Alzack made his shots start bouncing off the trees to hit him in the back.

Goku wondered if he could make his ki blasts do that.

Whenever he managed to catch Alzack with a ki blast or the power pole he never had the chance to follow through, because Bisca's bullets were always there to meet him. He'd tried shooting off ki blasts at the sniper, but she would just shoot them out of the air.

Goku couldn't drop his guard for a moment and he felt himself being pushed to the limit of his skills just to keep himself paint free. Even then his clothes were splattered all over with paint, try as he might he just couldn't quite keep track of both gunslingers at once. He'd never had to fight such a coordinated team before, normally team fights just became a free for all, and he wasn't sure what to do about it.

Still, it was clear he wasn't the only one feeling the strain. Half an hour in, he could tell that Alzack was nearing the end of his rope. The gun mage's face was shiny with sweat and gasping for breath. Goku knew it was only a matter of time for before he'd have a chance…

There! Alzack had sidestepped one of Goku's blasts, but his foot slipped in a patch of mud and the gun mage went sprawling. Goku lunged twirling his staff in an attempt to keep Bisca's bullets at bay. He'd landed on top of the gun mage, knocking his guns away, Goku pinned Alzack's arms to the ground with his knees and placed the power pole across his neck.

"Gotcha!" Goku grinned, breathing hard. Alzack stared for a moment, the grinned back, the gun mage held up his hand to signal Bisca to stop shooting, and then let his body relax.

"Yeah." He admitted "Yeah you did."

Goku stepped off the gun mage and let himself collapse. He was exhausted, the mental strain of trying to fight these two without getting shot had taxed him to the limit. Both Faires just laid there, not really feeling up to doing anything.

"What? Are you two boys down for the count already?" Goku glanced over, Bisca had come down from her sniping tree. She didn't look like she had broken a sweat, which didn't seem fair. But he had to admit that she was a good sniper, While he had managed to block some of her shots through luck, he don't think he had actually managed to dodge a single one of them.

"That," Goku said, grinning through his exhaustion. "Was awesome. You two are amazing." Alzack and Goku helped each other to their feet.

"Thanks. You're pretty good yourself." Alzack replied, bending down to pick up his guns from where Goku had kicked hem. "I haven't had a fight like that in awhile."

"Same here, we've gotta do this again sometime."

"Oh yeah?" Bisca tilted her head to the side, looking Goku's paint splattered clothing up and down. "You sure you want to so that?"

"Heck yeah. Look how many time you hit me." Goku gestured to himself. "If this had been an actually fight and you hadn't been using paint bullets, I would have been in a lot of trouble."

"You sure? You were taking Alzy's magic shots like they were nothing."

"Oh come on Bis, I'm right here." Goku couldn't help but laugh at the crestfallen look on Alzack's face. He looked like a puppy someone had swatted with a newspaper.

"Well yeah, I am pretty sturdy. But I took way too many hits, I need to get better at dodging stuff, if I try to tank everything any mage throws at me I'm not gonna last very long am I?"

"I suppose that's true. You do make good target practice."

"I bet if I train with you two there's nothing I won't be able to dodge, I also need to work on my ranged fighting. You were pretty much in control of the whole battlefield. "

"Oh, well thank ye kindly…"

"Seriously, you two make such a good couple!"

Alzack and Bisca froze, their faces turning from normal to red in about half a second. As one they started stammering out broken sentences while looking absolutely everywhere but at each other, before turning and walking off in opposite directions.

"What?" Goku frowned, watching them stagger away. He turned to Levy who had been reading her giant book on the sidelines. "What did I say?"

Levy just grinned at him, "Don't worry about it Goku." She patted him on the shoulder. "I'll explain it to you when you're older."

"Okay…?" Goku shrugged, well as long as they were okay, he supposed it didn't matter. He put the thought out of his head as he followed Levy back to the guild.

Fin.

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Thanks for reading, please leave a review on your way out!


	20. Special Chapter 1: S-Class

**The author of this story does not own Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, or Dragon Ball Super. (Especially not GT, whoever owns it can feel free to keep that steaming pile. Wouldn't say no to Super though…) Instead he own a laptop that he writes stories on for the enjoyment for himself and for readers from around the world. **

**From Heroman45, with beta reading done by Sturm and Drang…**

**Starring: Goku as the Protagonist**

**Natsu as the Hot Head**

**Laxus as the Jerk with Self Esteem Issues**

**Gildarts as the Final Boss**

**With appearances from**

**Erza as the Tough One**

**Levy as the Brain**

**Gray as the Bishōnen**

**Bisca and Alzack as the Cute Couple**

**Cana as the Drunk**

**Happy as the Cat**

**Macao as Lazy Bum #1**

**Wakaba as Lazy Bum #2**

**And Makarov as the Pervy Master**

**Escalation Presents:**

**Special Chapter #1**

**S-Class**

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_Roughly a year and a half before Lullaby (a few months after the events of Chapter 8) _

It was finally time. Every single member of Fairy Tail had been recalled to the guild hall. Even Mystogan was supposedly hiding somewhere in the building, keeping to the shadows away from the rest of the members. For once nobody was drinking, there was no boisterous laughter filling the air, and even Gray and Natsu were managing to sit next to one another without breaking out into a massive brawl.

Only one thing could possibly quieted the Fairies short of being passed out in a post-party slumber:

The S-Class exam was about to begin.

For every eye was on Makarov as he stood on the upper level with his S class mages behind him, looking down at large scroll in his hand before he made to address his family.

"So…it's that time once again. I've finished reviewing reports from every single mission that Fairy Tail has completed over the last year as well as every incident of excessive collateral damage. I've watched all of you grow over the past year and like always I'm very proud of you my children. But this year five of you have proven yourselves ready to try and take the next step. When I call your names you shall step forward and tell me whether or not you accept the test, whether or not you feel you are ready to try for the S-class!" The reactions around the guild were varied. Some looked nervous, some calm. Cana looked like she was pissed off that she was still sober. Natsu was literally smoking from excitement and Laxus stared down from the balcony with a condescending smirk on his face. Erza scanned to crowd, attempting to determine whom Makarov had chosen to be most worthy. Her eyes locked onto the Goku, who looked like he was so full of anticipation he might just explode if someone nudged him.

Goku had always been naïve and childish, his secluded upbringing had seen to that. Despite his innate raw power that eclipsed those of his older, more experienced comrades; his mentality had prevented him from being a candidate in past tests. An S-class mage needed to handle their power responsibly, and Goku had never been up to the necessary mental rigor. She had grown so accustom to his actions that she had immediately discount him from even being a possible candidate. But Erza had noticed he had been spending a lot of time with Levy this past year, and there was a certain gleam in his eye. Perhaps this would be his year.

"First off, Cana Alberona!" The girl looked timid as she rose to her feet and more than a few people remembered her previous failures with the test. She let her eyes wander over towards Gildarts, who was standing quietly behind Makarov, before she took a calming breath.

"I'll accept the challenge." She declared, her eyes hard. Master Makarov nodded at the girl approvingly and she abruptly turned away. She marched straight over towards the bar, threw a handful of money at Mirajane, yanked a massive keg towards her and started to chug.

Makarov blinked at the… interesting display of responsibility, before he regained his focus and cleared his throat. Looking down at the list again he said "Second, Bisca Connell!"

The sniper smiled as she rose to her feet and quickly accepted. Alzack gave her a friendly hug as she sat back down before both of their cheeks turned a bright pink and they nervously looked away from one another.

"Third, Gray Fullbuster!" A tick mark appeared on Natsu's face as the ice mage stood up and gave his consent. He sat down with a quiet "take that flame brain" before Makarov continued once again, ignoring Natsu's visible act of restraining himself from retaliation.

"Fourth, Son Goku!" The orange-clad teen missed the quiet swearing of the other contenders as he stood up with a grin.

"Alright, let's do this!"

"Fifth, Macao Conbolt!" The older mage blinked in surprise, before voicing his assent with a grin.

"You five have shown the most promise of your friends and allies this past year. But make no mistake, just taking the test does not mean that you may pass. Just last year we didn't have a single winner at all. This test will take everything you have, your power, your wit, and your friendships. In regards to that last one, each of you shall be allowed to bring a partner with you. You shall take the test together, though your ally will not reach the rank with you should you succeed. Tomorrow at precisely 9:00 a.m. a boat shall be departing from the beach behind the guild to our testing site. If you and your partner are not on the boat then you shall forfeit. I wish you all the best of luck with this test and I hope to have a new S-class amongst us by the weeks end. Until then, feast and make merry!" With a cheery wave the old man hopped off the banister down to the ground below and walked straight out of the guild.

"So hothead, how does it feel to be in the presence of the next S class mage?" The smirk on Gray's face was like a cat's that just got away with eating the canary.

"This is bullshit! How the hell does Frosty the stripping snowman get to take the exam when I don't? And why the hell does Macao get to go? No offense to him, but I could cream him easily."

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.

"Well I heard Macao set a record for smallest amount of collateral damage this year so that's probably why he gets to go. As for me…maybe the old man just recognized the fact that I'm better than you!" Gray smirked.

"Oh yeah? Say that again to my face and I'll introduce my fist to yours!" Natsu challenged.

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.

"Enough!" Erza barked, rising between the two like a beacon of doom. Erza hadn't actually heard anything they had said from across the guild. Pure instinct had carried her to where she knew a fight would be about to break out. Both boys flinched back at the sudden appearance of the red head and began trying to edge away while also remaining perfectly still.

"Gray, you were chosen because you generally show more maturity and levelheadedness than Natsu, stripping habit notwithstanding, but if you continue acting like a child, I will personally make sure you don't make it to the boat tomorrow. Natsu, if you truly wish to be able to take the test so badly then you need to grow up. You can start by not picking a fight with Gray right before the test! He is going to need everything he has to get through, and sabotaging his chances will not be tolerated. Now you are both going to apologize to one another and then I don't want either of you harassing the other until this test is over, is that clear?"

"Yes Erza!" The mages nodded furiously, desperate to avoid her wrath. Happy just smiled at them from atop Natsu's head.

"And you!" Erza pointed at the feline.

"A-aye?"

"When you agree with everything Natsu says you are only egging him on. You need to stop being such a yes-cat."

"Aye!"

"What did I just say!?"

"I mean… N-nay?"

"Good. Now then, Gray you should work on finding yourself a partner as quickly as possible so that you have time to go prepare yourself for the trials tomorrow will bring." Gray nodded and was about to walk away when a thought crossed his mind.

"Erza, I don't suppose you would like to be my partner tomorrow would you?" Erza shook her head, chuckling.

"I suppose that would be quite a boon for you wouldn't it, pairing with someone who is an S-class already. Unfortunately I have already been given another assignment from Makarov instead, one that I will likely enjoy far more." A look of increasing concern crossed Gray's face as Happy flew up beside the warrior girl.

"Erza, Erza! What job did you get?"

"Oh nothing too special. Tomorrow I shall be playing the part of one of your obstacles." The color drained slightly from Gray's face at that piece of information. Natsu's reaction fell on the other end of the spectrum.

"Are you serious? You mean that if I went I could have gotten to fight BOTH of you? Aw man, this sucks!"

"Actually, Laxus, Mystogan, and Gildarts are participating as obstacles for the test as well." Gray slowly sunk down in his seat and began muttering to himself while Natsu's eyes bugged out of his head.

"You're all going? This is the greatest fight of all time! I have to go, I just have too!"

"Then find someone looking for a partner and offer your services. Maybe someone shall agree to take you along." Natsu perked up at the idea and quickly looked around. Gray's had that weird deal with Loke, so he was out, not that he would want to team up with him anyways. Macao had already paired up with Wakaba, no surprise there, and dragged him over to the table to start drinking. Cana was nowhere to be seen, and by the looks of things Bisca had grabbed Alzack as her partner already. Which left…

Natsu whipped around and laid eyes on Goku sitting at the bar with Elfman and Levy.

"Sorry Goku, I'm man enough to admit that I won't be much help to you for this test. I'll have to decline."

"No problem, Levy will come with me instead! It will be like a training mission, right Levy?"

"Sorry Goku, Cana already asked me to team up with her. Besides, I don't think I could handle the test with you anyways. Isn't your plan to just charge through and take down everyone you encounter?"

"Pretty much, I want to make sure I fight as many people as possible during the test!"

"Yeah sorry, but no thanks. I'd rather work with someone who will avoid picking fights with the S-class mages."

"Fine, but that just means I might get to fight you there instead!"

Levy paused, and then smirked. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you, Goku."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Goku grinned back, "But now who am I going to get as a partner?" A banging noise behind him drew his attention, he turned and blinked, taken aback.

Natsu was kneeling before him, hands clasped together and desperation in his eyes.

"Goku! You have to take me with you! All the best fighters are gonna be there and if I'm not there I might never get another chance like this! And the stripper is already going and if I don't he'll never let me live it down and-"

"Alright fine!" Goku raised his hands in an attempt to placate. Seeing Natsu like this was just plain disturbing. "Sure, that'd be perfect!"

"ALRIGHT! I'M SO FIRED UP RIGHT NOW I COULD BURN THE WHOLE TOWN DOWN!" Natsu's body caught ablaze in his excitement, turning a nearby table to ash. The next instance Mirajane was there, dropkicking the flaming teen into the ground causing his flames to gutter out. Behind her, Erza stood with her arm still cocked back and leveled an annoyed glare at Mirajane. The bartender stuck her tongue out and sauntered away to serve another customer while Goku just watched in amusement. Erza stepped over the downed pinkette and took a seat besides the martial artist.

"So, do you think that you are ready for this?"

"I don't see why not. Maybe I'll even get a serious fight out of you for once. We haven't had a full power spar in a long time."

"That's because unlike you I don't feel that need to constantly test to see which of us is stronger. But if we do run into one another while you are completing your test I promise that I will not hold back."

"Sounds like fun! It'll be good to see just where I stack up against everybody else, none of the S-rank ever seem to want to fight."

"That's because a weakling like you isn't worth our time." A smug voice interrupted.

Erza managed to keep her face neutral as Laxus flaunted his way over to them. His cocky grin swept over the pair, focusing more liberally on her form rather than Goku's. The martial artist had frowned at the sound of the approaching lightning mage and the scowl only deepened as he came over and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

"The weak stay weak, you should both know that. Goku here has been overlooked for the S-class so many times already; even Gramps knows he's garbage. In fact, I'd bet that the only reason we have anybody testing at all this year is because Gramps needs to keep up appearances with the Magic Council. Nobody here's going to be getting promoted this year, especially not this dunce."

Erza vaguely notice that the tables immediately around them had gone quiet as the blonde voiced his claim, eyes all around the building had turned to glare at the sneering young man. Flickers of power sparked up around the guild, Gray's table partially froze over, Bisca and Alzack's gun started glowing with power; Natsu, having gotten to his feet was beginning to smoke; and Erza herself had to keep her hand from closing around a sword hilt she refused to summon, she had more control than that.

"You shouldn't really say things like that Laxus, you might hurt someone's feelings." She hissed, but he dismissed her warning with a snort. He sneered at the mages around him.

"Like I care? This guild should only be for the strong, if you get your feelings hurt over something as weak as words; you shouldn't be here in the first place. I can't wait for this test to begin tomorrow so I can show all of you just how pathetic you really are." He turned his sneer back towards Goku and paused, nonplussed.

Goku was smiling.

The martial artist met Laxus's sneer with an ear-to-ear grin. Laxus raised a brow.

"So, you know for a fact that you are that much stronger than me?"

"Easily."

"Even though I'm the one that can sense power levels?"

Several eyebrows went up at the implications of that statement but Laxus remained unfazed.

"Nice bluff, but we both know the pecking order of this place. Gramps and Gildarts are the only ones who can stand on my level but even their time is limited. I'm going to be the strongest mage in this dump, and once I am, I'm going to get rid of all the riff-raff, starting with you!"

"You might think you know everything there is to know about me. But really, you aren't even close." It was subtle but Erza could see it. Auras of energy were cloaking the two as they stared each other down. Goku was surrounded in a blue haze the same color as his signature attack while Laxus was surrounded with the pale yellow of lightning. She felt her hand twitch toward her dimensional space again, grasping for a blade. But just as quickly as it had formed, the tension vanished and both boys stood down. Laxus grunted and made his way to the door, shoving people out of his way.

"I'll show you your place at the test then. Try not to make it too boring."

"Same to you." The entire hall was silent for several moments after Laxus walked out. Goku turned to his new partner.

"Natsu?" The dragon slayer reluctantly tore his gaze away from the door and faced the martial artist.

"We're gonna get into a lot of fights tomorrow. But we're gunning for him first." Natsu's feral grin would have made Igneel shed a tear of pride had the dragon seen it.

"You got it. I've got a fire ball with his name on it." Gray scoffed, turning towards the dragon slayer with a smirk.

"Well flame brain, try to make sure he doesn't finish you off in one hit for once. Goku might have a hard time getting through the test if he has to drag your sorry ass around on his back the whole time."

"You know what Gray? The second Laxus goes down we are going after you! You and Loke will have no chance against us, right partner?"

"Maybe, but I wasn't really planning on going after them unless I have to. I want to challenge some of the S class mages, as many as I can."

Heh…I think I can live with that. Alright, tomorrow we'll take them all on! Happy, since you can't participate tomorrow I want you to follow with a camera! I want a big picture of the very first time that I beat an S class mage to hang on my wall!"

"Aye sir!"

"AWW YEAH! THIS WILL BE THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I'M SO FIRED UP RIGHT NOW, I COULD FIGHT AN ENTIRE GUILD! I'M ABSOLUTELY BURNING, NOTHING CAN STOP ME!

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"…make… make it stop." Natsu was laid out on the ship's deck, his stomach feeling like a dozen eels were doing the tango inside it. Happy stood contently beside the sick teen as the boat rocked about, occasionally snapping a picture of his friend's misery. The rest of the group had spread out around the boat, having learned long ago that there was no point in trying to snap the dragon slayer out of his motion sickness. Gray and Loke had joined Goku by the mast and were enjoying a simple conversation to relax before the upcoming contest.

"So Goku," Loke drawled out, "just how sure are you that you can beat Laxus? Your energy sense really that good?"

"Actually, no. I can only sense how much power someone is putting off at that moment. Most people don't know how to hide their power so I can always tell what level they are at. But then there are others who can power themselves up, or hide part of their power at the start of the fight. Gray's power doesn't change all much in a fight, he just starts from his max. Then you have someone like Erza or Elfman who rely on changing their form to fight. I can usually tell that they have more power than they are showing, but I don't know their max until they actually cut loose. Laxus's normal power isn't as high as mine, but I don't think like it's his full strength. The growth that I've felt in his power level over the years slowed down to almost nothing, but at the same time I know he's training harder than almost anyone in the guild. He's suppressing his power for some reason."

"Why would he bother doing that?"

"Don't know."

"Well, how is he hiding it?"

"Don't know."

"How much power is he hiding?"  
"Don't know."

Loke sighed, running his hand through his hair and throwing Goku an exasperated look.

"Is there anything that you DO know about this?"

"Not really. Any idea why Happy is staring at me?" Gray tilted his head to look around the martial artist and there was Happy, sitting cross-legged a few feet away with wide eyes looking hopefully towards them. Seeing that he had been noticed thee blue cat hopped up and padded his way over to the three.

"Goku, I'm hungry. Can you go catch me a big juicy fish?" Ignoring the pair of matching sweat drops on his friends' heads Goku gave a cheery nod and hopped right off the side of the boat. Loke idly watched the ripples fade away as Goku vanished underwater before looking at Gray.

"You know, on a regular ship people would be freaking out right now about a man overboard."

"Regular ships don't have people who can beat up sharks or who can call a magic cloud to fly them around whenever they want."

"Point. So then, want to talk strategy while he's gone?"

"Not really."

"Winging it then?"

"I just don't see the point of planning. If we run into pretty much any S-class mage we lose. If we go up against pretty much any of the other teams, we can win. Goku's going after Laxus so we shouldn't need to worry about either of them, and that leaves us as the strongest team competing."

"So your entire plan depends on us not fighting an S class?"

"Do YOU think that we can beat any of them?"

"…Point. Winging it, it is then. Always nice to fall back to the classics."

Gray grunted in approval and leaned back against the mask, closing his eyes to wait for their arrival. Loke joined him, though he decided that his eyes were more useful roaming over the assorted women on the boat. Goku leapt back on to the deck a few moments later with a couple of massive fish that he fried with Ki and split with Happy. The two were just finishing their meal when Master Makarov strolled up onto the deck and called for the attention of the gathered promotion hopefuls.

"Alright brats, we're about twenty minutes off from the island so I suppose that it's time for me to explain the rules to you. The test is going be divided up into two parts. I will personally lead each team to a special room where I have set up an obstacle specifically designed to challenge each one of you up for promotion. You will have a time limit of 1 hour to get through the first portion, anyone who fails to do so will be automatically disqualified. Anyone who does make it through though, you shall be then taken deeper into the caves, to an area beneath the island. There you shall let loose into a massive maze along with every S class mage currently employed by this guild. Your objective will be to get through the maze, battling through the other teams and the S-class to try and reach a small shrine that I have put up there. Keep in mind, I've had more years of every person failing the test than I've had actual winners. If this seems difficult, that's because it's supposed to be! The danger that you'll come across on an S-class mission is far greater than anything I've let you brats deal with at any point over the years. I'm not gonna go easy on you here, just to find you ending up getting yourselves killed later on. Unless you can prove to me beyond a doubt that you are prepared for what's out there, I'll be happy letting you run the lower rank jobs for the rest of your lives! Now, I'm sure there are questions." He paused, smiling as several of them raised their hand, "but that would take the fun out of all my surprises!"

The groans and laughs were equally represented as the old Master turned towards the front of the ship. The rest of the challengers joined him to watch as the island came into view. It was time.  
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The second Goku's feet hit the ground he was moving, Natsu following close behind him. The rest of the contestants scrambled to catch up, leaping over rocks and logs as they made their way towards the entrance to the cave system. Several cave entrances were visible, each with a marking on top to prevent anyone from taking the wrong challenge. For Goku, a large orange circles containing four stars. The pair burst into the cavern, glowing with energy as the prepared to take on their first opponent. Except…there was nobody there.

The entire cavern was empty except for a small pedestal sitting beside a large, ornate door. Shrugging, the pair walked over towards the pedestal and found a piece of paper and a pen.

_Welcome to part one of the S-Rank Exam! This part of the exam will be focusing solely on mental strengths and weaknesses! In order to advance to the next trial you, Son Goku, most successfully answer the following logic questions correctly within the time limit. Present your paper to the door when you are finished and it shall be graded to determine whether or not you shall advance. _

_ Question 1: A barrel of water weighs 20 pounds. What must you add to it to make it weigh 12 pounds? _

Goku and Natsu's stormy faces spoke volumes.

"So…logic problems?" Natsu groaned.

"Looks like it."

"Damn it. What do you thing the others got for their tests?

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**With Gray and Loke**

"Don't strip?! What the hell kind of bullshit test is that?"

"Well, to be fair, S-class requests tend to have a higher quality clientele. Makarov probably wants to make sure you don't end up giving some wealthy baroness a strip tease or something."

"If that actually happened they would probably pay me extra."

**With Cana and Levy**

_Self-Control Test. _That was all the piece paper said. But honestly, that was all it needed. For surrounding Cana and Levy were barrels upon barrels of beer.

"Son of a… The old man is **never **going to hear the end of this from me. I'm not even sure if I'm more pissed off because of the implications, or because I can't drink any of this!"

**With Alzack and Bisca**

_Learn how to emote and express your true feelings. _ The pair looked at each other in confusion. Alzack sighed before waving the paper at his partner.

"So, any idea what that's supposed to mean?"

"I don't know… got any deep traumatizing memories you want to share?"

"I'm an open book to you, I've told you everything there is to know about me."

"Same here, we spend so much time together, I don't know what it's expecting here. We don't hide anything from each other." Alzack's reply was cut short when suddenly the paper began to flash in his hands.

_Seriously? Are you two seriously that clueless? _

"Wait is that paper…"

_You two have feelings for one another! Just admit it already!_

"Well…"

"Damn…" Wide eyes met and cheeks became so red that even Erza's hair couldn't compare.

"So…I do kinda like you. However, I'm not ready to do anything about that at the present." Alzack forced himself to look Bisca in the eyes, desperately wishing the ground would swallow him instead.

"I um… feel the same."

"Really!" Alzack perked up.

"Yeah."

"In that case, do you… want to do something after this? Like together?

"I'd like that." Bisca smiled softly. "Any idea what you want to do?"

"Try to shoot up master for this?"

"I'd like that even more."

**With Macao and Wakaba **

_Decide. Do you really want to be an S-class?_

"You know that's actually a really good question." Macao looked at Wakaba. "What do you think?"

"Well…" Wakaba twirled his pipe in his mouth. "On the one hand, being an S-class means you get more money, become a big hit with the ladies, and I bet Romeo would be pretty proud of you."

"Yeah, but if we keep going we might need to fight Gildarts." Macao commented, rubbing the back of his head in thought.

"That… is a good point. Still though-"

"We'd probably also end up fighting Erza."

The older mages paused.

"Yeah, no, let's not." Macao put the piece of paper back, and turned back towards the entrance. Wakaba patted him on the back in sympathy.

"Don't worry about it man, it's the right choice."

**With Goku and Natsu**

Twenty minutes into the test Goku and Natsu had smoke pouring out of their ears. It had been going well… sort of. The math problems weren't so bad. But the essay about analyzing the political necessity and effectiveness of the magic council was just misery.

Groaning in frustration Natsu fired off a tiny fireball at the puzzle door. The attack dissipated harmlessly, but as it did Natsu's face suddenly screwed up in concentration. Slowly, an evil grin began to form on his face.

"Say Goku?"

"What is it?"

"This is a logic test right?"

"Yeah."  
"The objective of the test is to go through the door, right?"

"Right."

"So…wouldn't it be logical to go through any obstacle to get through the door?"

"…huh."

Natsu pointed at the door, his fireball had done nothing. The stone wall next to it however…

Goku grinned.

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Makarov ignored the eight pairs of glaring eyes, well six actually. Loke and Levy were more amused than anything else.

"Well done everyone, I'm glad to see that four of our teams have advanced to the second and final round of the exam! Pity about Macao, but it's probably for the best. While the first test challenged your mind, this one shall focus on your fighting spirit! Before you are the entrances to a maze, filled to the brim with dangerous creatures, hazardous traps, and Fairy Tail's entire lineup of S-class mages! Somewhere within the maze is a path that will lead you to the grave of Mavis, the very first Master of the Fairy Tail guild, don't tell anybody, that bit is supposed to be a secret. If you want to be promoted, then you'd better give it your all to reach the center.

The glares from the various mages shifted, the anger slinking away with a promise of later vengeance, to be replaced by determination. The same look that an athlete would get before a big event, or a soldier before a war. The look of a warrior with a drive to win. Nobody spoke up and Makarov gave his silent approval for the attitude his charges had quickly taken on.

"No questions? Good, you're learning. Alright then, the challenge starts on my mark. Ready? Set? GO!"

Three teams exploded forwards, vanishing down the different passages before them. Goku stood still though, concentrating. Natsu stood beside him, looking downright vicious at what he knew would be coming next. Goku's eyes snapped open.

"Found him!"

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Laxus could tell they were coming. Every person alive, no matter how strong or weak, always had a bioelectric field that he could sense. Goku's was different than everyone else's; he didn't really feel human. Natsu didn't either, but that was because he was a dragon slayer; their magic went a bit deeper than normal mages. Goku's wasn't a dragon slayer though, Laxus was sure of that. He'd never really been able to put his finger on what Goku actually was.

Nor did he actually care. Trash was trash after all.

As the dynamic duo of idiot burst into the cavern the blonde shed his jacket, tossing it off to the side to keep it out of harm's way.

It was time to take out the trash.

"I'll warn you once, don't mess with my jacket. I just bought it brand new, and if it gets so much as a single singe I am going to replace the leather with your skin." Goku eyed the article of clothing and shrugged, he could hardly care either way. Natsu had other ideas.

"You want to stop me from messing up your jacket then you're going to have to stop me yourself! I'm all fired up for this fight right now, you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this! Let's go Lauxus, I'll take you down myself!"

"Watch yourself, lizard boy, your ego's showing a bit there."

"What'd you say you roided up spark plug?"

"You heard me. Prove me wrong."

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Laxus smirked at the incoming flames and sent a sizzling punch straight down into the Earth. The ground exploded upwards right before him, creating a rock wall to block the incoming flames. Before the light had even faded away from the blast Goku was moving, leaping over the wall to slam his foot into the blonde's face. Laxus stumbled off balance and was barely able to avoid the flaming fist that came flying for his stomach. He caught the next punch with an electrified forearm and shoved the Fire Dragon Slayer tumbling towards his partner.

Goku used Natsu's incoming body like a springboard, flying above the lightning mage to fire a trio of energy blasts down on the lightning mage. Laxus threw his arms up into the air to deflect the blows, leaving his gut vulnerable to Natsu and the youngest fighter blasted himself off the wall like a rocket. Groaning and doubled over in pain, Laxus took the subsequent Fire Dragon's Roar point blank and was sent crashing into the wall. His two opponents watched him from a distance as he forced himself back onto his feet, cursing as he did so.

"Laxus, you should probably stop now." Goku said. "These are just supposed to be spars we are doing, it's clear that you can't take on both of us. Take a rest here while we move on. Once I win the test I'll give you a fair fight, one on one whenever you want. Natsu gives me an unfair advantage for a fight like this." Blue eyes met black, though to Goku's surprise it wasn't just malice that was visible.

"Is that so?" Laxus drawled, rising to his feet and cracking his neck. "I'll admit, you might not fall in with the rest of the trash that Gramps keeps around. In fact, once I take the place over I might even keep you around. But you are getting ahead of yourself, very far ahead."

Laxus closed his eyes, then snapped them open like someone had flipped a circuit breaker.

Suddenly wreathed in lightning, Laxus channeled all of the power of a storm into his muscles, electrifying and accelerating his body to an insane degree. He took a step forward and disappeared. In a flash he was atop Natsu, punching him straight through the stone wall before either teens could even register the movement. Laxus disappeared again.

Goku snapped up an energy dome just before the lightning struck, weathering the blow with only a slight wince. Then Lauxus was behind him, lightning flashing to incinerate the back of Goku's gi and all the skin behind it. Hissing in pain the martial artist threw out a kick, only for it to get caught in an electrifying grip.

Goku was thrown straight up into the air and bounced off the ceiling straight into a haymaker that sent him crashing to the ground. Before he even had a chance to move a kick caught him in the side and sent him flying through the hole that Natsu had made, Laxus's glowing form close behind.

Natsu was struggling to rise on the far side of the cavern, a mere three feet away from the cliff that took up more than half of the area in the new room. Far, far down below Goku heard the sound of running water, an underground river. Even as Laxus' next bolt of lightning crashed into his side he was planning.

Laxus made his way towards Goku with a sneer. The martial artist was holding his head in apparent agony, moaning loudly.

"Guess I was wrong then." He sounded almost disappointed. "You showed a bit of potential for a moment, but the instant I crank it up a bit you go down in three seconds. Pathetic. You definitely fit right in with all the trash of this guild. Completely, and utterly useless!"

"SOLAR FLARE!" Roaring in agony, Laxus was defenseless as a barrage of blows landed all across his body, pushing him slowly back step by step. The blonde mage flailed out uselessly with both limbs and lightning, desperately trying to stop the sudden turning of the tide. When his vision had finally returned Laxus was tittering on the edge of the cliff, barely keeping his balance. Angrily he lashed out, feeling no small sense of satisfaction as he finally sent and finally sent…Natsu sailing backwards?

Even as he tumbled backwards the pinkette grinned, pointing to the side as he crashed to the floor. Laxus spun around to see a massive swirl of blue energy suddenly flying towards him. The shout of "HAAAA!" echoed in his ears as he was blown backwards and sent plummeting down more than thirty feet into the water below. When he finally kicked his way back to the surface he knew it was over, he couldn't safely activate his lightning boost with this much water, he might overload his brain. He had no way to return to the fight.

_Well, I think that makes my mind up for me. First thing tomorrow I tell that Doc that I'll accept that Lacrima in my body. That bastard, a pathetic weakling like that actually beating me? Damn him, I'll get even with him. One on one just like he wanted. I'll met him on his own terms so that he has no excuse, and then I'll grind his bones into dust. _

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Natsu and Goku had quickly left the room after Laxus went down, worried that they had wasted too much time. The pair annihilated every trap and beast before them in burst of flame and Ki, never once slowing down as they as Goku led the way through the maze. When they came to a fork in the road Goku suddenly came to a halt, forcing Natsu to juke to the side to avoid crashing into him.

"Hey! What gives man, we need to keep moving if we're going to get you that promotion! We can't stop, pick a path and let's go already!"

"Yeah, but you said that you wanted to fight everybody right?"

"Well yeah, but it's more important for us to get you to the finish right now! There's no way that we are going let you lose after we took down Laxus!"

"No, I wasn't thinking anything like that. It's just, the right fork feels like it will be a pretty clear shot to the finish. But if you go left, it feels like Erza's about to run into one of the other groups. I could just go finish this on my own while you can get in a few more matches."

"Aw man…that sounds awesome. But still, I should really make sure that you're able to get to the end all right."

"Think of it this way, if you go after them then they'll be too busy fighting you to come after me. I'll make it to the finish no problem!" Already tempted, that bit of reassurance was just what Natsu needed to make his decision.

"You got it man, one distraction coming right up! You can count on me!" He was off like a bullet, blasting flames from his hands like thrusters as he rushed into battle. Goku looked down his own path and took a deep breath.

"One on one…" He murmured, before resolutely stepping down the path.

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Almost as soon as they had started Gray and Loke had run straight into Mystogan. The pair held their own, relying on massive area of effect attacks to circumvent the cloaked mage's illusions, but in the end they fell into a pit that the S-class had concealed. When they tried to climb back up, they were blasted with sleep magic ending their run before it truly got going.

Alzack and Bisca had problems of their own; the pair had run into a massive rock golem in a narrow passage. Bullets were bouncing off of the monstrosity harmlessly, regardless of which spell they contained. The not-quite a couple found themselves on the retreat, leading the golem on a merry chase all throughout the maze, unknowingly being forced further and further away from their goal.

Cana and Levy had been doing fine. Their sheer versatility was enough to breeze through any traps and overcome any monster. Nothing, from a pack of Chimeras to a classic rolling boulder trap, had been able to stall them for any longer than five minutes. The duo was careful, conserving their energy whenever they could so that they would be able to cut lose when they inevitably ran into an actual threat.

Erza was more than happy to fill that role.

The two girls pulled up short with matching groans when the red haired sword mistress made her presence known.

"You've done well to progress this far. Now you shall be tested for your power and your ability to overcome unfavorable situations. Prepare yourselves."

"Cana…" Levy blanched. "Please tell me you have some sort of plan for this. Maybe a 'Get out of Jail Free' card in that deck or something?" Cana was already scrambling through her cards for something, _anything, _that could save her from this situation.

"Uh, I think I have a white flag…wall of bikini girls…lightning rod…rubber armor… damn it. Why did I have to focus on Laxus when I was prepping for this?"

"Because you were hoping to humiliate him after he wouldn't stop leering at you?"

"Yeah that sounds like me doesn't it?" Erza rolled her eyes as the girls fretted, casually walking over towards them with a metal staff in hand. Cana knelt down, her hair falling down over her face as she began tearing through her backpack for anything useful. Levy had her hands behind her back, stealthily writing as many enchantments as she could to boost her physique. The bluenette glanced down at her partner and just barely made out the slowly forming smirk on the card mage's face before Erza charged.

Yelping in fear, Levy threw herself to the side and tried to make an icy wall to separate them. A flash of light announced the Flame Empress Armor's arrival just a split second before the barrier was incinerated. But while the ice was cracking, Cana was already moving. A single card was flung through the air to impact on the fire armor and engulf it in a cloud of blue smoke. Erza's reaction was instantaneous, closing her eyes and mouth and pinching her nose shut before the gas could get in her body and leaping out of the cloud at top speed. Her eyes opened to exactly what she expected: both girls preparing spells to throw her way. Unfortunately for them they weren't going to make it, she had more than enough time to strike at least one of them before the attacks would go off.

At least, she would have if her armor hadn't disintegrated right at that moment. Suddenly left in nothing but her undies, Erza was left gaping as the twin attacks crashed into her, the card bursting into lightning and the words 'Impact' slamming into her face, sending her hurtling back across the room. When she struggled to her feet Cana chuckled at the unasked question on her face.

"The Knight's Folly. Strips away magic armor faster then Goku goes through a buffet. I actually ordered that one special, just for you. I may have been lying when I said I wasn't ready for you." Cana held up her hand and fanned out a couple more cards. Each card was imprinted with an underdressed man surrounded by a blue cloud of smoke. "I prepared quite a bit." Erza's eyes grew narrow at the card player, she couldn't sense that armor in her dimensional space any more.

"Where is my armor?"

Cana shrugged.

"I shall be reimbursed for this."

"What? No way, this is a promotion exam, I'm supposed to go all out! It's your own fault for not dodging! Besides, I'm not asking you to reimburse me for my cards am I?"

"I _shall _be reimbursed for this." As she spoke Erza glowed, materializing fiery red pants and chest bindings appearing around her. A wooden sword formed in her hand that she twirled at the pair menacingly. Cana and Levy exchanged leery looks before stepping apart from one another, working for a flank. Scoffing, Erza moved. Levy barely even perceived the movement before she took a hard whack to the head and her vision went dark.

Cana flinched when Erza's eyes drifted over towards her. There was no mercy in those eyes. Mentally shrugging to herself Cana whipped another card from her deck, deciding to at least go down swinging. Erza obliged her.

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Natsu burst onto the scene moments after Cana's head hit the ground. Erza was instantly on guard, looking around rapidly. A beat. Two. Three. A red eyebrow was raised upwards.

"Where'd you lose your partner Natsu?"

"Oh you don't need to worry about him! I'm going to take you on myself! Better give up now Erza, I clobbered Laxus already, you're next on the list!"

"Laxus is down? No, that doesn't matter right now, just tell me where Goku is right now."

"Goku and I split up at the fork in the road back behind me. He told me to handle you while he took a straight shot to the finish! After I'm done taking you down, I'll get to go and congratulate him at the finish!"

"Wait…he took the other path? And he sent you here to go on by himself? Is he insane?"

"What? What the hell are you talking about! He's going for the win!"

"… Gildarts is down that path."

"What?! But he…I can't…he said… DAMN IT! HE TRICKED ME! HE KNEW THAT I'D RUSH OFF TO FIGHT YOU WHILE HE TOOK THE BEST FIGHT FOR HIMSELF! I GOT NO CHOICE NOW, I GOT TO TAKE YOU OUT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN GET IN THERE MYSELF! ALRIGHT ERZA, LET'S GO, RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW! I'LL PROVE TO YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT I'VE FINALLY SURPASSED YOU!

"Hmph. Of course it's the Flame Empress Armor I lose right before this. This might actually be a challenge."

…

…

…

It wasn't.

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Goku pushed the door open and there he was: Gildarts Clive, the strongest mage in Fairy Tail. Strong enough that he could take on slug it out with Wizard Saints and win, strong enough to annihilate an entire city with but a touch. And now they were going to fight. The grin on the young martial artist's face couldn't be wider if he was told he had unlimited food for life. Gildarts just gave him a look of nonchalance, unconcerned with the challenger that had just walked in.

"So you're that Goffu kid right? Makarov's mentioned you a few times, said that you had a lot of potential."

"It's Goku actually. I've been looking forward to this ever since I heard how strong you are."

"Really? This isn't going to end up like that thing I've got going on with Natsu now is it? You know, where he endlessly challenges me over and over again and I have to be really careful beating him to make sure I don't accidently level a town? My wallet can't take that."

"No, just one fight should be enough for now. I need to see how much further I have to go before I can reach the level I want to be at."

"Really now? And what would that level be?"

"The strongest in the world."

"That's a pretty lofty goal you got there kid. Now, why don't we see if you can actually deliver?"

Goku nodded and pushed down the sides of his gi, leaving the blue undershirt exposed. In a quick motion he began to remove it from his body. Gildarts blinked.

"So, you're more like Gray then Natsu?" Goku chuckled and gently tossed the shirt to the side and enjoyed the sight of Gildarts' eyebrows shooting up when the shirt cracked the stone beneath it. Arm bands and boots quickly followed and soon Goku was left in just the outer gi of his standard outfit.

"I've done a bit of research on your fighting style. Kind of unusual for me, but I knew that this would be my only shot at you for a while and I didn't want to waste it. I found out all about how strong you are and how you can beat pretty much everybody in just one hit. In fact, you're so comfortable with your power that you never really need to work at it, it's always just there for you to use. You relied on your power, and you never had to develop anything else. So, let's see if you can hit me." And then he was gone.

Gildarts blinked once in surprise before a fist slammed into his face. The red haired man was unmoved but before he had a chance to retaliate Goku was back across the room where he started. The martial artist was shaking out his hand and wincing, his knuckles throbbing in pain from the attack.

"You know, I might not train much but I _have_ fought speedsters before. A lot of them actually. It might take longer than usual, but they still go down in the end." Gildarts' watched the teen carefully, expecting to see signs of demoralization at the ineffective attack. But the grin didn't falter for a moment as Goku settled into a fighting stance.

"Perfect! You're just as strong as I hoped! I can fight at full power for sure now." A pale white aura burst to life around the warrior, kicking up a cloud of debris around him. Finally the smile vanished, a tight lipped determination taking over his face. As one, they moved.

Goku thrust his hands forward and lobbed half a dozen Ki spheres that speed across the room. Gildarts reacted by simply clapping his hands before him. The resulting shockwave vaporized the incoming attacks completely and turned the wall behind where Goku had been standing to rubble. But the teen was already moving, launching even more spheres at Gildarts from the side before vanishing in another burst of speed.

Gildarts punched the first orb hard enough that the rest vanished behind it and then just barely managed to duck a kick aimed at his head. Goku was out of range before the older mage could retaliate, covering his retreat with a blue beam of energy. With practiced ease Gildarts brought his hand up towards the incoming attack and caught it with his palm. The instant it made contact the blast burst apart into hundreds of tiny, pulsing blue cubes. As they fizzled out of existence Goku dashed through their center, firing attacks the whole way. Clapping his hands once more was enough for Gildarts to stop the charge and force Goku to leap high up into the air.

Tapping his foot on the ground, Gildarts sent a large boulder bursting out of the ground before him which he promptly slapped towards Goku. Just as easily Goku punched the projectile apart into a fine dust. He landed lightly on his feet, panting slightly as he watched his opponent wearily. For his part Gildarts still seemed completely unfazed. The older man just was waiting expectantly, having hardly moved since the beginning of the battle. So once more Goku began moving faster than the normal eye could track.

Gildarts' eyes narrowed when specks of blue began to flicker in and out of existence around the room. Little puffs of dirt and displaced rocks let the older mage track his opponent's movements but he made no move to stop them. Curiosity had gotten the best of him and now he wanted to see the fruits of the challenger's efforts. So when Goku reappeared a mere foot away with glowing blue hands aimed straight at his chest, the older man didn't even flinch.

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!" The point blank attack struck home, enveloping the entire cavern in a blue glow. The ceiling shook and the ground began to crumble as Goku leapt away once again. Breathing heavily now the teen watched to see the destruction his attack had wrought.

Standing in the middle of the crater, his clothes torn, cape destroyed, and a tiny trail of blood tricking down the side of his face, Gildarts still stood. And finally, Goku had managed to draw a reaction out of him. Amusement.

"Heheh that was a nice trick kid. I'm impressed, you're easily strong enough to be S-class. I can't even remember the last time someone managed to make me bleed. So, what do you say I kick it up a notch?"

It was like when Laxus had released his power earlier, but ten time stronger. Power surged throughout the cave and Goku staggered back under its weight.

His power level.

It was…

It was…

Insanity.

The whirlwind that resulted from Gildarts' unleashed true power was actually enough to lift Goku's weighted clothing into the air and blow it across the cavern. Suddenly Gildarts was moving, barely a blur in the air as he dashed across the room. Goku lunged out of the way and landed a kick onto his opponent's side before trying to get some distance. The older mage was on him in a moment, throwing punch after punch that Goku struggle to evade around. Quickly the martial artist was able to discern what happened, Gildarts was flooding his body with power to boost his speed, just like how Laxus had before. Goku's insane speed, a result of years of hard training, was almost perfectly matched in a single moment. Without that critical advantage he knew it was over, it was only a matter of time before he would slip up and take a hit. His energy attacks weren't enough, his strength wasn't enough. His only options now were to see how long he could dodge around or make one last ditch attack.

Gildarts watched in surprise as the teen skidded to a stop, his fist suddenly pulsing golden with power. For just the briefest of moments he swore he could see a hint of scales and fangs with in glow along with a pair of bright red eyes. Then the fist was coming at him and Gildarts brought down his own, the attacks crashing together as Gildarts landed his first blow of the match.

Seconds after the point of impact Goku was sent hurtling backwards, crashing through three walls, a fourteen stone pillars, one startled rock golem, and coming to a perfect stop a mere foot away from the objective of the race. Battered, bruised, and with more broken bones than he cared to count, Goku still smiled as he reached and out touched the gravestone a few seconds before he passed out.

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The hospital room at Fairy Tail was filled to the brim. Every last member, willing or not, had been crammed inside to visit the injured and congratulate the newest addition to Fairy Tail's S-class rank. Even Gildarts had stopped by to attend briefly before he had to head out to take on his next SSS rank assignment. Cana hovered around the older man, sending him apprehensive looks every so often that went entirely unnoticed by everyone. Beer and food was passed around freely and the celebration fit the rowdiness criteria for a Fairy Tail affair.

Of all of the competitors, almost every single one had been able to make it through the test with only minor injuries. A few bandages for head wounds, some salves for cuts and bruises, all standard affair for a guild as rowdy as Fairy Tail. But seeing the winner of the S-class test strapped down to a bed in a full body cast during the middle of his own graduation party had been the source of plenty of well natured ribbing. Goku grinned and bared it with his normal cheer, satisfied with his performance in the battle. That didn't save him from the lectures he received over the course of the day though.

Erza had come first, chewing him out for the stupidity of challenging someone so much out of his league. Levy had jumped in quickly after that, naming off the long list of injuries that he had sustained as well as how each and every one of them could harm him in the long run, sprinkling multiple mentions of how close he came to never being able to walk again to make sure she had all bases covered. The martial artist nodded and agreed to all there points, though it was noticed that though he agreed that he was in the wrong, he never actually promised that he wouldn't do something like that again in the future.

In fact, it was actually Natsu's argument that made him feel the worst.

"Never. Do. That. Again."

"Aw come on Natsu, I wanted to see how well I stacked up against him!"

"I know, but I was your partner for that challenge! That means that I should have been able to go with you! We beat up Laxus together, you might not be in such crappy shape if you had let me help with Gildarts too! But no, you just decided that you wanted to go fight him yourself, no matter what. You know what, I would have been happy just being able to watch something that awesome! You could have just asked me not to fight! It was your test, I would have respected that! But instead you just sent me out to go fight Erza, made me feel all like I really helping out by keeping her off of you! But that was never even a problem, she would have been too busy securing the other two to worry about going after another team! I was all pumped up to help, but then she just felt out told me that I'd been duped! My head wasn't in the fight anymore after that! It's your fault that she beat me!"

"No way! You're using me as an excuse for that!"

"I am not! I was so fired up I could have taken her down with one arm behind my back! Cana blew up her Flame Empress Armor, she would have been completely helpless against me! But then she told me what you did and it distracted me! I was so distracted that she just took me out in one hit!"

"…I'm not going to apologize for you losing your fight, Erza's still stronger than you are anyways. But you're right, I shouldn't have just ditched you like that. That wasn't right."

"Damn straight!"

"I'm glad to see that you two worked that out." Goku and Natsu looked down to see Master Makarov standing beside Goku's hospital bed.

"I know you prefer fighting on your own Goku, but you should realize that everyone in this guild will have your back just as much as you have theirs. You never have to fight only, our spirit shall always be burning, ready to help out someone in need."

"Right…Having backup probably would make most of my battles easier."

"See, you're learning already! I knew that you were ready for S-Class! Speaking of which… ALL RIGHT YOU BRATS, LISTEN UP!" Makarov's voice reverberated through the room with enough force to shake the windows, and in an instant every last member of the guild was silent.

"We truly had an impressive batch going into the test this year, more than half of which were even able to move on to the second round. That's a bit of a rarity with this test, the first round normally has a two thirds wipeout rate. So congrats to everyone who made it that far. I'm truly proud to see how far you have all progressed so far, and I can't wait to see just how far you all will be able to go! But now that the test is complete, let's officially welcome the newest member to the guild's elite! To Goku!"

"TO GOKU!" The guild cheered back and the party kicked right back up at full swing. Even Laxus joined in for though toast, more for appearances than anything else. For in his mind he was already scheming. The power boost he would soon receive would be a great help, but it was just the start if he was to regain his pride. Goku had beaten him with parlor tricks and he was sure that the idiot had handled Gildarts the same way. The kid was no warrior, no matter how much he wanted to pretend otherwise. He was merely a fraud, and it was only a matter of time before Laxus's time would come. For now he would allow the fake to enjoy his celebration but when the time came, absolutely nothing would stop him from grinding the martial artist to the ground beneath his heel.

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When the party finally died down and Goku went to bed, Goku stayed up late into the night going over the events of the day. The difference between him and Gildarts was…surprising to say the least. Never had he expected the massive gap that existed between the two of them. He had heard the rumors of Gildarts' power, but to see it in person was another matter entirely. Even Makarov would struggle to match the power Gildarts so effortlessly wielded.

He had no idea how the man had gotten so strong and managed to maintain such power when he supposedly hadn't trained at all for well over a decade. He had no idea who had taught the man or where he might have gotten his powers to begin with, but one thing was clear.

He had a lot of training to do.

He couldn't wait.

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AN: And thus completes the very first special of Escalation! I guess that you could call this Escalation Movie 1 if this was actually an Anime instead of just a Fanfiction. I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me so far, well over a year after this story first came out. Now, I kinda want this chapter to hit 10,000 words so I'm going to throw a bit of extra content at you. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the preview for Escalation Special II!

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**Son Goku was the single greatest hero that Universe 7 had ever produced. Even before he hit puberty he was saving the world, beating off threat after threat for decades. But without his presence, only chaos remains. In just a matter of years Earth finds itself completely overrun, and demons rule the lands. For three years they have ravaged the planet, finding joy in hunting down every last human as they rapidly increased their own population to fulfill King Piccolo's desires to expand his Empire into the stars. All of Earth's greatest champions have fallen, from the old masters to the Red Ribbon Army that created humanity's greatest resistance. There is nothing left now, no heroes remain. Instead, a single assassin plans in the shadows, gathering as much strength as he can to launch one final, desperate assault to fend off the extinction of the human race. In humanity's darkest hour, they have only themselves to rely on. And so, with no options left, they turn to the man with three eyes. **

**Tenshinhan stars in…**

**With guest appearances from Mercenary Tao and Demon King Piccolo…**

**Humanity's Last Breath. **

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Welp, this is officially the most I've ever published in a month. I'mma go take a nap.

P.S. The answer to Goku's logic problem is "holes."


	21. Phantom Menace: Part 2

Saiyan fan: You really think Goku wouldn't show up for the biggest fight of the arc? As for the training stuff, Goku will be shown training with at least one or two more members.

Various guests: Vegeta just doesn't fit very well in this kind of story. He will cameo but he is not going to be a major player. Sorry, but that's really all I can say.

**Chapter 20: The Phantom Menace Part 2: Prisoner of War**

Lucy groaned, slouching against the wall of the cell. Just a few hours ago Lucy had been walking through Magnolia, trying to stay out of the rain and sort out where she felt her place in the guild was. Then a weird girl with a pink umbrella appeared, said hello, walked past, and the next thing Lucy knew, people were rising out of the ground and she was drowning in the middle of the street. What the actual fuck?

She'd woken up locked in a cell and, of course, her keys were missing. The first thing she did was try the door, throwing her weigh into the thick wood until splinters littered her arm. So the window wasn't an option unless she felt suicidal, the walls were too smooth to scale and unlike most Fairies, she couldn't throw herself off cliffs and be fine because of the power of friendship. Then her attention was drawn to the crystal ball.

It was an inconspicuous, dirty little orb set over by the corner of her room. At first she was going to ignore the trinket but with nothing else in the room to grab her attention she eventually made her way over to it. When her hand touched the sphere it was filled by a soft glow and a hazy image began to fade into view. The blonde Celestial Mage watched first in curiosity and then in ever growing horror as her friends were torn apart by the might of Phantom Lord. She trembled in rage and fear as she witnessed each and every one of her comrades was slowly overwhelmed and pushed back. She saw Erza's fall, and collapsed unable to watch any more.

"**Lucy Heartfillia."**

Lucy jerked back with a start as crystal ball was suddenly consumed by Jose's image.

"**All of this is thanks to you."**

"Wha-what are you…?"

"**The tale of the disenchanted heiress fleeing from her destiny** **to a supposedly better life, it always amuses me when the storybook clichés come to life. But this time, it will be my dreams that come true. If you hadn't run away then your father wouldn't have put such a massive bounty for your safe return, and if it wasn't for that then I wouldn't have an excuse to wipe Fairy Tail off the map. For you see, what greater hero is there than the one that reunites the adoring family and takes down the criminals keeping them apart? And with Fairy Tail's reputation for destruction, I should have no trouble selling that angle at all. Everything is set up even better than my wildest dreams, and it's all thanks to you."**

Lucy gaped in horror as the words slowly sunk into her mind. If what he said was true, then she was the one responsible for the horrible condition of all of her friends. Then the waver in her eyes disappeared as her gaze hardened.

"No…No! You're wrong! It's my Fathers fault for pushing me away or it's your fault for being a sick freak! You would have attacked them eventually, I'm just your scapegoat! I won't let you get away with this!"

"**You say that as though you have a choice. There is no way out of that room and the door will not be opening until your friends are taken care of. No point giving you any opportunities to escape, right? This whole matter should be resolved this time tomorrow, I'm sure you can go without food until then. There is a pot in the corner of the room in case you need to go to the bathroom. I am a considerate host after all. We'll speak again when its time to take you to your father. Until then, I'll just set this little orb here on a nice long loop. You can watch my heroic guild fend off your kidnappers to your heart's content!"**

And so it looped again. She knew she shouldn't look, that she should look away, but she couldn't turn away from her friends. Their condition was in large part because of her father, she couldn't ignore it. And so it looped again. And again.

She watched as debris tore a gash through Elfman's forehead that bleed so fiercely it forced his right eye to close. She watched as Loke was struck in the side and how he seemed to heavily favor his left leg as he fled the building. She watched Alzack and Bisca as they went back to back, constantly throwing themselves into danger for the sake of the other. Natsu, one of her first real friends as he and Gray unleashed everything they had in a desperate gambit to protect the fallen mages they were sheltering. She saw Cana as she…

Cana…

_CANA!_

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_**Two weeks ago**_

_"Are we really going to do this?" _

_ "Is the payment for this job still a huge barrel of booze? Cause if it is then we are totally doing this!" _

_ "This brewery is massive though! Who knows how long it's going to take to make sure it's all clear!" _

_ "Aw come on Luce, it's not that bad. But you are right, the longer it takes for us to complete this, the long it will take to get all that booze. Hm… oh! Why don't we split up? That way we can get done in half the time!" _

_ "…are you sure that's a good idea? What if something happens?" _

_ "These gremlin things don't even come up to your knees Luce, what do you think is going to happen?" _

_ "… The last mission I was on a little flute turned into a skyscraper sized monster and tried to eat me!" _

_ "Wait, Natsu was being serious about that? I thought he was just exaggerating to try and show everyone up again? That's awesome!" _

_ "Cana, come on! Can't we just stick together?" _

_ "I really want to get the booze though! Come ooooooon!" Cana draped herself over her partners shoulder and poked her in the side. "You wanna get drunk with me don't yeah? It'll be real fun, I promise!" _

_ "I just don't want to get over my head…" _

_ "Oh! I'm so dumb, I should have thought of this before!" _

_ "What? What are you talking about?" Cana ignored her and pulled out her various decks. It took her a few minutes of shuffling through all of her cards but eventually she pulled out one with a blank face. Smiling when she saw it, the older brunette promptly smacked her friend on the forehead with it. _

_ "Hey! What the heck Cana?" Again she was ignored as the gambler stared intently at the little piece of paper. Her smile grew as a small, chibi Lucy appeared on the card, animated to wave at the two girls cheerfully. Cana then pulled out a second card, this time with a smirking chibified version of herself waving around a little bottle of beer. She handed the card with her picture to her partner and slid its counterpart into her own packet with a sly grin. _

_ "There we go! You channel some magic into that one and it will let me know that you need help and lead me too you. Mine will do the same thing for you, so make sure you always keep that little cutie on you alright? Now let's do this!" With that Cana dashed away, laughing the whole while. _

_ "Wait, no! Come on Cana, come back!" Lucy wailed._

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"The card…" Lucy mumbled, immediately the girl was fumbling through her pockets, turning them all out onto the ground. A stick of bubblegum, some loose change, a piece of string, a bag of candy, and several other random pieces of crap hit the ground as she searched. She didn't even remember picking up half this stuff.

Cana's card was naturally in the last pocket she checked. Quickly channeling magic into the card, hope blossomed in her chest as the chibi Cana reached out to as if to comfort her while mouthing 'help is coming.' With tears in her eyes she turned her attention to the other two items that had been in her pocket.

That red key Erza had asked her to investigate, Lucy hadn't gotten around to it yet. She didn't dare use it right now. There was no telling what it might summon. But the other thing she had…

Lucy grinned.

A golden key. Erza had given this to her after that Deloria incident. Lucy hadn't gotten around to summoning the spirit yet.

She was trapped in enemy territory with who knew how many mages around her and her friends on the verge of defeat, but suddenly that didn't matter quite so much anymore.

She wasn't helpless anymore, she wasn't just waiting for her friends to save her. She wasn't going to slow them down or hold them back or put them in danger.

She had a contract to make.

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The shattered attack squad was forced to stop only a few miles away from the Phantom Lord guild. The makeshift icy bandage that was keeping Erza from bleeding out was beginning to melt away as the warm blood overwhelmed it. Natsu was standing over the unconscious girl, his hand wreathed in flame.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Gray nodded as he and Elfman made sure they had a tight grip on their unconscious comrade. It would only be worse if she flinched and moved.

"We've got no choice Natsu, unless you want here to bleed out here, then we've got to make sure the wound closes. Porlyusica can get rid of scarring and stuff no problem, by if she's going to do _anything _to help then Erza needs to be alive. Now do it before she bleeds out!"

"Damn it…sorry Erza, but you gotta live!" With a roar the boy brought down his open, flaming palm directly down on the gaping hole. The stench of burning flesh hit the air as Erza screamed, not even waking to do so. Every conscious mage averted their gaze, faces grim as the wound sealed. Gray and Elfman were barely able to hold her down as she buckled around in a futile attempt to escape the overwhelming pain. Finally Natsu removed his hand to reveal a patch of charred, blackened flesh. Biting back a vile string of curses the teen stumbled a few steps away.

"Alright…alright. It's done." Natsu said, face an odd shade of green. "I think I'm going to be sick." Gray patted his friends shoulder sympathetically.

"You probably just saved her life. We don't have time for grief."

Natsu nodded. "…Gray."

"Hm?"

"They're going to come after us aren't they?"

"…Probably. They weren't planning on letting us walk out of there, that's for sure. If I had to guess, I'd say they're going to wait on us. They'll let us go back to the guild and attack us there. Nowhere left to run."

"Damn it all. We need to get back soon and get Mira to send out an emergency call."

"Yeah. I just hope that the rest of our S-class are close enough to help us. If we're really lucky Gildarts will come. That would end this fight on the spot."

"They'll be here, don't worry. In fact, I bet some of them already heard about what happened to Shadowgear and are on their way back already! Once we've got a full team again we'll smash those Phantom bastards apart for what they did!"

"That sounds like a plan I can get behind hot-head. I could go for some payback."

"That's what I want to hear you cold bastard. They won't know what hit 'em."

"Damn straight."

Once the group had patched up those that they could they made ready to move again. They couldn't risk taking the train, not when Phantom Lord could ambush them there. So they stayed to the woods, stripping trees for gurneys and makeshift casts as they went. Cana was helping wrap damp leaves around a burn on Elfman's forearm when the back of her pants started to vibrate loudly. Elfman raised an eyebrow at the sound and Cana swatted him in the back of the head as she fished her deck of cards out of her pocket. When she saw just which card was reacting her face paled. Grabbing the nearest mage and throwing them at Elfman to finish patching him up, the brunette sprinted to the front of the group.

"GRAY! NATSU! WE GOT A PROBLEM!" Instantly the two boys were on guard, magic flaring up around them as they looked for targets. Cana quickly waved them down and pulled out her card, showing a desperate looking Lucy on the front.

"I gave Lu a card a couple weeks ago so she could signal me in case of an emergency for a job. A couple minutes ago it went off."

"Phantom beat us back to the guild? Damn it, I'm even sure what we should do then!" Gray snarled.

"That's what I thought at first too, but the card isn't pointing towards Fairy Tail. It's pointing back towards _Phantom_."

"Those bastards kidnapped her? I'll go turn them to ash! Give me the card, I'll leave right now!"

"That won't work Natsu." Cana said as she pulled the card away from her fiery friend.

"Why the hell not! Someone's gotta go save her!"

"But it can't be _you_! You and Gray are the only ones who have a shot of holding Phantom off right now if they find us before we get back to the guild. You need to stay here to protect everyone. I'll go instead." Natsu grimaced unhappily but didn't argue the logic. Gray on the other hand wasn't done.

"How do you plan on getting her back?"

"I'll try and sneak in and sneak out with her so I don't have to worry about getting in a fight and trapped."

"What happens if she's injured?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're no better off than anyone else, we all used a ton of power back there. If Lucy is injured and you end up having to carry her, can you get her out safely back to the guild? And then, can you carry her and fight if you get caught?"

"Oh…crap. But still, I can't afford to take you guys with me!"

"Yeah, you made a good point. Alright… LISTEN UP!" The ice mage bellowed. Once he had the attention of the guild on him, he continued. "Phantom has kidnapped Lucy! Cana's going to lead a team to get her back, so I need two volunteers who can go with her!"

Every conscious Fairy stuck their hand in the air.

"I need two volunteers who AREN'T injured and still have enough power left to fight your way out if needed." Just a few hands dropped, most of the guild remained resolute, bandages and all.

"Let's see…Alzack, you sure you're good to go?" The western themed mage gave a curt nod, twirling his pistols around in his hands as he walked over.

"Bisca would come too, but she dislocated her shoulder and can't really deal with any recoil right now."

"That's fine, we'll make sure she gets patched up while you're away. For the second-"

"I'M GOING!" Cana blinked in surprise.

"Wakaba? Are you sure?"

"Hell yeah I'm sure!" Wakaba snarled, twirling his pipe angrily. He had relatively few injuries, but his pompadour was falling apart. "One of my drinking buddies is down for the count with a concussion and the others about to go on some insane suicide mission. It's going to be a month before Macao is healthy enough to go out for a victory drink with me once this is over, so I need to make sure at least one of my fellow alcoholics is in good condition!"

"I'm not a damn alcoholic! But…thanks Wakaba."

"No problem kid." With the three assembled Cana quirked an eyebrow at Fairy Tail's makeshift leaders. Exchanging a curt nod the pair went to continue helping their comrades while the small rescue part disappeared into the foliage.

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In the Fairy Tail medical wing Mirajane sat on a small stool, keeping watch over her three temporary charges. They weren't in danger anymore, slowly but surely the cocktail of magical medicines were bringing the trio back to good health. After Lucy had departed for home Mira had kept a diligent watch, hardly ever leaving their sides. This may have surprised most people that came to Fairy Tail, but the guild always had a fully stocked medical supplies, they needed them considering how rowdy they all were. Shadowgear was in good hands, and she was ready to help patch up her friends once they returned home.

On the bedside nearest her hospital bed, Levy's satchel began to tremble. A faint glow permeated its depths as its contents began to rattle. As the noise grew later Mirajane finally noticed the disturbance. Curiously, the former S-class mage made her way over to the bag and unlatched its restraint. The moment it was open the glow moved and Mirajane watched in wonder as a rapidly forming Phoenix feather floated up into the air. The feather danced around the room, briefly hovering over each member of Team Shadowgear before coming to a stop a few feet above Levy's forehead. A golden flame sprouted out of the magical quill, and before Mirajane had time to react the entire room was bathed in its light.

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"This is so boring."

"Oh my god Tom. Shut up."

"No seriously. We could be helping to clean up all that fairy trash. But instead we're stuck at the base guarding this one fairy bimbo."

"Wow. You're right, that's a great point. I completely did not understand what you meant the last five times you said that."

"You know what Becky? Why do you have to be such a bit- ARGHGUHH!"

"Tom? What's that? A tarot card- Argh!"

Cana smirked in grim satisfaction as the two phantom mages writhed on the ground. They both had one of Cana's cards stuck to her forehead, a lightning bolt glowing brightly on its face. A short distance away Alzack was pocketing two smoking pistols while Wakaba dragged a couple of guards into an alley. Once they were out of sight he took a long drag on his pipe and grinned at his teammates.

"Well, that's five guards down and somehow they don't know we're here yet. Bet they didn't expect any Fairies to come back here." Alzack nodded in agreement as he pulled out a small telescope from his cloak to scan the surroundings.

"They got a bit confident didn't they? They probably thought they had the cushy job, just watch the defenseless girl while the rest of their guys went out to hunt us down." While the men kept watch Cana pulled out Lucy's card once more, waiting for the little chibi character to point her in the right direction. The mini Lucy pulled out a giant cardboard arrow and jabbed it upward.

Craning her neck Cana looked up to the sky, where a massive tower was poking the rising above all the other buildings. Alzack and Wakaba followed her gaze, exasperation clear on their face when they realized the significance of her gaze. After a moment Alzack sighed.

"Alright so, somehow we need to get inside the building without anyone hearing or seeing us, sneak our way through unknown territory to find our way to the tower, disable whatever guards are near it, get Lucy out, treat whatever injuries she has, and then make our way back through the exit without anyone noticing us. This will be difficult."

"Or…" Wakaba drawled out, "we could just take the quick route." Ignoring the questioning looks thrown his way, the chain smoker blew hard into his pipe until a couch sized cloud was floating in the air. With a smug grin he hopped up into the air and landed lightly on the cloud.

"Been working on this since I saw Goku with that cute little cloud of his. Still can't get it to go very fast, but it can float just fine." Cana walked up to the cloud and gave it a cautious tap. When her hand failed to pass through she hopped up, landing on top of the cloud beside Wakaba.

"Alzack, keep an eye on things down here for us. We'll be right back!" The two were in the air before he could respond, allowing the breeze to lift them up towards their friend. As they approached the window a pair of voices wafted down from the window. Slowing their accent to a crawl, the pair readied their weapons as they edged up the last few meters. As the distance closed the voices became clearer.

"Come on Sagittarius, why can't we work out the summoning contract later?" As the pair came up to the window Lucy entered their view along with…a man in a horse suit?

"I sincerely apologize Lady Lucy, however I must conform to the rules. Unless you are under immediate and dire distress, the contract must be made before I can complete any tasks for my summoner."

"I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"While I admit that is most unfortunate, you are not being abused at this moment. I notice they have given you a bucket to do your business in, so they have provided adequately for your immediate needs under the terms of spirit world legislature. That said, I shall gladly do everything in my power to remedy the situation as soon as possible, you do not fit the conditions necessary for immediate action."

"THEY COULD BE BACK IN HERE ANY MINUTE!"

"If they arrive then the exception will come into play and I shall be glad to aide you. But it would likely be more efficient to simply deal with the contract now so that we may avoid the mortal peril altogether."

"…That window is looking pretty good right now."

"Are you sure you're not just talking about the beautiful babe just outside the window Lu?" Cana drawled. Lucy gaped at them, causing Wakaba to snicker so hard that the cloud began to waver beneath them. A quick slap from Cana straightened him out, setting the blonde off into her own fit of giggles as Cana pulled herself into the room. Lucy's laughter turned to an indignant squawk as suddenly Cana was poking and prodding her, searching for injuries.

"Whoa, whoa there Cana, I'm alright! You don't need to worry!"

"Like hell I don't! Those freaks didn't do anything to you did they?"

"…No, I'm fine. They just snagged me off the street in Fiore and tossed me up here." Cana glanced across the room and spotted the jagged remains of a crystal ball. Lucy didn't notice, staring down at the floor as her eyes watered.

"Is that it?"

"Yes... I watched the attack on Phantom happen. I saw what happened to Master and Erza. Jose told me that he was doing all of this because of my father, because I ran away from home. My dad put a bounty for my return up and Phantom Lord got it, they used me as an excuse to attack."

"Oh Lucy" Cana reached out and pulled the girl into a tight hug. "Don't worry Lucy, everyone's alright. We got out in time, even Erza and the Master. Now we just have to get you out of here alright?" She said gently. Lucy gave a slow nod before turning back towards the patiently waiting Sagittarius.

"Head back home for now Sagittarius, I'll call you later on to finish the contract."

"Very well Miss, I'm glad you shall be able to walk free once more and I look forward to working with you in the future." In a flash yellow light he was gone and Cana was moving.

"Alright, first things first. I think we should leave a little surprise behind for them." Reaching into her deck, Cana pulled out a trio of cards that she carefully leaned against the bottom of the door.

"There we go, a nice little booby trap. Open the door and the whole thing goes up. Alright Wakaba, let's get out of here!" With a curt nod the ginger helped both of the girls onto the smoke cloud and began their rapid decent. By the time they reached Alzack, the gun mage had added three new unconscious Phantom mages to the pile of guards. With the flick of another card the mages were bound together into a big heap and the Fairies fled to the woods with laughter on their lips.

"Do you realize what we just did?" Cana asked breathlessly.

"What?"

"We just completed what had to be the Fairy Tail's first ever successful stealth operation."

"So that's why I feel so weird." Wakaba commented, snapping his fingers. "We didn't even blow anything up. It just feels… unnatural."

"Why do you think I left the boom cards?"

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"Alright," Jose said, putting his fingers together and gritting his teeth. "Run that by me one more time." The terrified lackey nodded, gulping loudly before repeating his message.

"Sir, a group of mages from Fairy Tail mages broke into our tower and snuck out with Lucy Heartfillia. They left the explosives behind, so when the room was discovered empty and a few mages went in to investigate they were all injured. After searching the area we found roughly a dozen more guards restrained in the woods besides our building. We have no knowledge on when they broke in or how much of a head start they had. For all we know, they have already rejoined their allies and made it back to Magnolia."

"…"

"…"

"…I'm sorry. It sounded like you just told me the loudest, most destructively idiot, asinine guild in the entirety of Fiore and quite possible the world, managed to _sneak_ into one of most _heavily guarded_ bases and escape with a captive worth several _hundred million jewels__**.**_ Then, on top of that, they disabled my _handpicked_ guards chosen specifically for their skills in defense! And they did all of this without alerting _anyone _until they were long gone. Correct?"

"Y-yes sir."

"…"

"…"

Jose closed his eyes and sighed. "…It's official. I'm surrounded by incompetent morons. Very well then, I've got a message for you to send for me, are you ready?"

"Sir! Yes Sir!"

"Great. Now…tell the tech boys to ready Jupiter_**.**_

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When Lucy and the retrieval team entered Fairy Tail the blonde was suddenly bum rushed by a blur of blue.

"Lucy! I'm so glad that you're okay!" The Celestial mage stared down in surprise at the petite figure that had wrapped around her.

"L-Levy? You're alright!"

"Yeah! My Phoenix Quill finally reformed and sensed my injures! It burned itself out using Phoenix healing magic to get me and the boys back in fighting shape! I won't be able to use it when Phantom comes back, but at least we can fight!"

"You got that right Lev!" Jet cut in.

"Yeah! We won't get caught off guard this time! We'll protect you with our lives!"

"Not this time guys! This time all three of us are going to fight together!" The matching grins on the two men spoke volumes and as one the pair dashed off to prepare. Lucy blinked in surprise at the sudden fire in her normally quiet friend.

"Levy, are you sure you're alright?" She asked softly. As her partners disappeared from her sight, the bluenette's smile fell.

"I wasn't thinking at all in that fight. If I played it smart I might have been able to do something, if not win then at least signal for help. All that training I've done, I thought that I got stronger. But I still messed up."

"Trust me, I know the feeling. But with the way things are right now, I don't think we can afford to let it affect us. We're so out matched here, everybody is going to have to get involved. Everybody is going to get a shot."

"Yeah, you're right. This time it will be different, I promise."

"Yeah! We won't make anyone save us this time!"

"You got it! Now, since you're here can you lend a hand? We need to patch up everyone as much as we can. Plus, Natsu is downstairs with Gray and Happy and I bet they'll be thrilled to see you!"

"That sounds good. Maybe I can check up on Erza and the Master as well?"

"Sorry, Elfman carried them to the woods to ask Porlyusica to take care of them a few hours ago. He came back a bit beat up, but she said she would look after them."

"Can she really help them?"

"She's the best medical mage alive! She'll have the two of them up and going in no time!"

"That's a relief…"

"Yep! Now we just have to wait for Mirajane to finish call the rest of the guild back and everything will be alright! We're Phantom's main rival as the strongest guild for a reason after all! If we get everyone back here, nobody can stop us!"

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Two teams were across the ocean and couldn't be back for over a week.

One team was trapped in a blizzard.

Another had accidently triggered a previously dormant volcano and couldn't be reached.

Nobody had been able to contact Gildarts since he left on his SSS class mission.

Mystogan had disappeared.

And Laxus…

"I'll come help you…as long as you can get that big breasted Lucy chick to agree to be my woman and if Cana agrees to give me a strip show!"

"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU LAXUS? YOUR GRANDFATHER IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THAT TINY THING BETWEEN YOU LEGS?"

Well, if you want to negotiate, how about if the two of them along with you and Erza all have to flash your boobs at me? Is that any better?"

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU ASS!"

"Now now Mira, the barmaid shouldn't lose her temper like that. You're asking me to do this because you've become so useless you can't do it yourself. You should know better than to insult someone when you are asking them for such a huge favor."

"Damn you…"

"See, the way I'm looking at things, this is the culling of ranks that Fairy Tail has needed for a long time. So unless you can offer me some damn good motivation, I'm not lifting a finger to help **any **of you. If you're looking for a handout, you've come to the wrong place! Good luck Mirajane, if you survive maybe we can try and negotiate for you staying in **my guild! **Hahaha-!" Mirajane slammed her fist into the communication orb and cut the lightning mage off out of sheer rage. Trembling, the girl desperately went through her options. She really was useless now, a mere fraction of herself. And now if things remained as they were, her baby brother would die for her weakness.

With tears in her eyes the girl revved up the orb on final time. Her voice cracking as the salty drops streamed down her face the girl croaked out her plea.

"Goku…help us."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

YOU'VE ASKED FOR IT…

_Does that mean Goku won't be there to help fight Phantom Lord? Is he done with Fairy Tail for good?_

YOU DEMANDED IT…

_Titania fall?! GOKU SMAASH!_

Now…NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION!

HE  
WILL  
RETURN

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE SERIES…

HE SHALL UNLEASH HIS WRATH!

PHANTOM LORD WILL KNOW FEAR IN…

CHAPTER 21: THE PHANTOM MENACE PART 3: RETURN OF THE SAIYAN.


	22. Phantom Menace: Part 3

**AN: **I have been challenged to give all of the main characters in Escalation a theme song. Challenge accepted! Here we go:

Goku-Headstrong by Trapt (though, I was jamming out to Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses when I got to Goku's entrance into the battle in this chapter. I recommend you do the same.)

Erza-Unbreakable by Fireflight

Levy-The Reading Rainbow theme (yes I'm serious)

Elfman-Be a Man from the Mulan Soundtrack

Mirajane-Jekyll and Hyde by 5 Finger Death Punch

Kagura- Anthem of the Lonely by Nine Lashes

Natsu-Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce

Cana- This Afternoon by Nickleback (I don't care what you think about Nickleback, this song fits her personality regardless of who made it!)

Gray-Cold by Crossfade

Lucy- Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling w/ vocals by Lizzy Hale

Laxus-You're Not Me from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie Soundtrack (Kaiba's theme)

So now, I challenge you my dear readers, to make your own themes list. Which songs do you think fit best for each character? Leave your picks in a review!

**Chapter 21: The Phantom Menace Part 3: Return of the Saiyan**

Kagura checked over her shoulder one more time to make sure that Goku was behind his energy shield. She could still feel the hum of power coming from Archenemy, even from within its sheath. A minefield of craters and debris surrounding her was testaments to her attempts to harness it. Before when she had used the weapon to aide Goku her reserves had been virtually empty and the weapon had empowered her, granting her more strength than she had ever felt before.

Now though… now that her reserves where restored and the sword was trying to _interact _with it…it was incomprehensible to her. All of the power of a high level S class right at her fingertips asking, no, demanding to be used.

Power earned in an instant without a single drop of the control that should come with it.

"I think I'm ready."

"Alright. This time, instead of trying to mix your power with the swords just try to guide it. Maybe it will be easier if you don't try to control the entire thing right off the bat. No more cutting mountains either. Trust me when I say that kind of thing upsets people."

"I'll try. But I still want to get a seal for now. Until I can master this I could accidently kill someone."

"Fine, fine. Now let her rip!" Sighing at his enthusiasm, Kagura gingerly pulled the blade from its sheath. Already she could feel the air vibrating around it, as if the atmosphere itself was hurrying out of the way of the legendary weapon. She allowed her magic to leak into the blade ever so slowly until the connection felt somewhat stable. With that set she gave the weapon a small practice swing, holding back an almost automatic twitch at the carnage she expected.

Yet there was nothing.

The blade stayed quiet, and the expected shockwave did not burst to life. Kagura stared at the sword suspiciously, as if daring it to do something. Then she swung again and the blade whistled through the air. Still, the devastating power remained under control. Smiling the girl continued, automatically flowing into an old sword kata she had learned back when she had first started out on her quest. The blade swung through the air gracefully, with greater ease than any weapon she had ever felt before. It practically sung as it flowed through the patterns, a storm contained into a single point of beauty. However, as Kagura continued to move she allowed herself to become just a tad too relaxed in her movements.

The sword, with an almost living sense of glee, took her lapse of focus and ran with it.

When the arc of white magic burst forth from the sword Goku had a split second to reinforce his shield before it crashed against the glowing dome. Kagura's eyes were wide with horror as the two powers clashed in a blinding flash of light. Within his shield Goku grit his teeth as the force of the slash slowly pushed him backwards towards the mountainside.

"HYAAAH!" Throwing his arms up into the air Goku used his Ki to force the sword's magic upwards to tear into the cliff side above him. Panting, he had just enough time to shoot off a weak blast that knocked Kagura clear of the rockslide that buried him moments later.

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_He was a young boy, sitting around with a group of friends at a giant table with mounds and mounds of food, a celebration. All the chairs were filled except for one, one of his friends had run off to grab something for him, something he had left behind… _

_ But suddenly everything felt wrong. _

_ In a blind panic that he didn't even understand he started running through the streets of a city that he couldn't recognize. He pushed his speed to its limit, even as the other behind him cried out questions, asking him to stop. He couldn't though, he couldn't afford to. So he kept moving, sprinting straight into a quiet little building, an old arena sitting beside it. Inside… a corpse. A boy he knew. A friend. Lying dead on the ground, his neck bent at such an unnatural angle. His best friend. Never coming back. He had been too late. _

_XXX_

_ He was older now. Eight, nine years older. He was running harder than he ever had before, had already been running for almost two whole days. A large part of him wanted to go even faster, to truly cut loose with everything he had. But he knew he still had a fight to win, he couldn't afford to burn himself out. _

_ Finally, in the distance an old building came into view, thousands upon thousands of little clouds lined up at the entrance. With a burst of speed he was inside and immediately locked eyes with the green skinned old man waiting for him. They were gone in a flash, reappearing atop a white building in the middle of the sky. Barely pausing he leapt off the building. A strange old cat tossed him what he recognized as a senzu bean and then he was moving again, flying across the sky on his trusty companion Nimbus. Faster than sound he flew, arriving in the center of a small plains. Bodies littered the ground and a blast was heading straight for a small child. He barely got the kid out of the way in time, and a short man celebrated his arrival. It was undeserved praise though. He had only managed to save two. He was too late. _

_XXX_

_The bloated monster was about to explode. It didn't matter how strong he was or how strong his friends were. Nothing mattered but the fact that he had no way to stop it. The monster knew it. He knew it. His friends knew it. And the small child, barely even a teen, knew that he had failed in the only change to save everyone. The boy was too late to act. _

_ But he wasn't. So with a final, heart wrenching goodbye he vanished, taking the creature away from his home to die with it. This time, he wasn't late. He could never be late again. _

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Goku awoke to the sound of Kagura frantically using her gravity manipulation to maneuver the rockslide off of his head. After heaving the mass of stone further down the valley the girl rushed over and helped him back up to his feet. Waving off her concerns, he surveyed the damage the slash did to the landscape. Yet another mountain lay in ruins. Kagura's control was almost completely nonexistent in a controlled setting with no enemies to worry about. If she ever got into a real fight like that, she'd likely vaporize her opponent, along with anything and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire.

Goku cringed as his head injury throbbed, sparking flashes of his dream to whisk through his mind. Kagura noticed his expression and stepped in front of him, holding a single finger up in front of his face.

"Are you sure that your head is alright? We need to make sure that I haven't accidently concussed you, try to track the motion of my finger."

"No, I'm alright. I just have a bad feeling all of a sudden. I think something's about to happen." Kagura's eyes snapped from concerned to focused in a heartbeat and her extended hand whipped down to grasp Archenemy.

"Is it that wind mage again? Do you sense anyone coming?"

"No, nothing like that. Something just feels…wrong I guess. I think I might need to head back to my guild pretty soon."

"You have to head back…? What will happen then? Are you just leaving?"

"Well, I already said that it would probably be better to get leads on those slavers back home anyways. We can just pack up here call Nimbus to take us back."

"Alright. But we are going to go find a sealing expert before we go to Fiore. I can't even use my gravity magic properly right now, I can't save my brother if I accidently kill anyone who can tell us anything."

"Maybe Makarov can help with that! He's really old, he probably knows someone that can use sealing magic."

"No need, I already have someone in mind. It should only be a few hours detour if your cloud is really as fast as you claim."

"Right! Grab up your stuff as quick as you can and we can get out of here!" Kagura made to do just that, dashing the short distance back to the camp and tossing her few belongings into her satchel. Goku made a similar grab for his power call and was about to call for Nimbus when a glowing orb appeared in the middle of the clearing. The two warriors jumped clear of ball of light, Goku taking a forward position while she hung a few feet back to his side. Their defensiveness proved unnecessary though when a voice rang out from the sphere.

"Goku…help us." Goku's eyes widened as the light shifted to reveal the tear-stained face of Mirajane Strauss.

"Mirajane? Are you alright?" Kagura allowed herself to relax at Goku's obvious familiarity with the girl and instead took in the white haired girl's appearance herself. Dark lines were prominent under her eyes, and her hair seemed frizzled from distress. Her eyes were obviously bloodshot and her shoulders were trembling with overwhelming emotion.

"Shadowgear was attacked by a mage from Phantom Lord because of their inferiority complex. Master Makarov led a group to retaliate, but everything went wrong. It was all a trap to try and take us down. Almost everyone that went with him is injured and they barely got away. They're going to come after us though, we just don't know when. I've been trying to call everyone back, but so far everyone either can't be reached or is too far away to help. Laxus refused to help at all unless… well… the bastard has some demands that I refuse to meet. I'm not going to talk about it again unless I'm shoving his words down his throat. Right now, you're the only one close enough to help in time. They have at least six S-class mages that we know about; we don't have enough fighters left to hold out when they get here. You have to help us Goku, you're our only hope."

"Don't worry Mira, I'll get there as fast as I can. But…what did you mean that I'm the only hope? Even if Laxus said no and you can't get in contact with a lot of people, Erza and Makarov are still there right? Natsu and Gray can help out in pinch too!" Mirajane grinded her teeth and looked down so her eyes were covered in shadows. Goku felt his stomach drop.

"Mira…they're okay right?"

"…They lost. Jose caught Master Makarov in a trap and attacked Erza from behind. They're both in critical condition right now, we have no idea when they are going to wake up."

"…I see. I'll be back soon Mira, help patch everyone up the best you can." Goku stepped forward and swiped his hand through the orb before she could respond and turned to face Kagura.

"Do you have enough control to fight right now?"

"What?"

"Can you fight?"

"I…No. In a one on one I might be able too, but if you're really going into a guild war right now then I might accidently end up hurting your companions."

"Right." Goku fished around on his belt and pulled out a small pouch. "When we get back to Fiore I'll drop you off somewhere quickly before I head to Magnolia. There's about a quarter million jewels in here, get your sword taken care of. You can come find me at Fairy Tail whenever you want after Archenemy is ready."

"I can't just take your money!"

"I don't need it, I live off the woods. I have millions saved up that I only use for food now and then. You need it more than I do."

"…Very well. Thank you Goku."

"No problem. Now, let's get out of here.

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Gajeel was perched in the rafters of the control room, gradually allowing the constant rocking of the walking castle to lull him to sleep. He was in a good mood, even with how he'd needed Jose to help him against the Titania, the fact that Phantom Lord was about to finish the job more than made up for it. Below him the entire contingent of Phantom mages were running around the building preparing for the upcoming conflict. Jose sat in the command chair with a smile that made him look like a cat that had gotten the cream, the canary, and possibly eaten its owner for good measure. Silently surveying his soldiers as they prepared for the final confrontation. Glancing up, the man called up towards his strongest subordinate.

"Gajeel, when we reach Magnolia it will be your job to track down Lucy Heartfillia and return her to our dungeon. She shall not be allowed to go free again." The Iron Dragon Slayer sighed before he responded, hopping down to talk to his boss face to face.

"So you're giving me the chump work? Send some other grunt to do that shit, cause I ain't. I want to be right up in the meat of the action against the strongest they've got." Jose frowned at the teen and his expression darkened.

"It would be wise for you to follow orders, if you know what's good for you."

"Screw that! I want to get in this fight old man, I'm not going to just babysit some blonde bitch the entire time!"

Suddenly Gajeel's entire world was pain. The members of Phantom Lord froze in shock as their comrade withered on the ground in pain, his entire body covered in purple shadows. Jose watched the teen scream and flail for several minutes before finally ending the attack and kicking the Dragon Slayer across the room. The boy lay groaning on the ground as Jose stalked over to glare down at him.

"You follow my orders Gajeel, never forget that. I will not tolerate insubordination, no matter who commits the offense. You shall capture the girl or you shall perish with her comrades."

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Mirajane had somehow found herself the de facto leader of Fairy Tail. There wasn't a single mage that had the combination of power and wisdom that a normal guild master would normally be necessary for the position in Magnolia, so the one with the best leadership abilities. Not the best fighter or tacticians, just the one who took charge to try and take care of everyone. The mother figure.

With one of the weakest fighting strengths in the guild, Mirajane was somehow expected to lead the remains of Fairy Tail against one of the largest, most powerful guilds in existence. She had no way to help fight, no way to get in contact with anyone else who might help, and no real way to win. All she could do was just keep taking care of the injured to try and get as many people as possible into fighting shape before shit really hit the fan.

With a sigh Mirajane stepped away from her work setting Bisca's shoulder and scanned the room for her brother. Elfman had been running back and forth across town, carrying those too injured to fight off to a small warehouse several blocks away. She had sent Lucy and Loke to the building as guards, both to tend to the wounded and to hopefully keep Lucy out of sight to prevent another kidnapping attempt.

Eventually she spotted her brother helping Alzack set up barricades around the front of the building. When he saw her approaching he excused himself and came to meet her.

"Hey sis, you hanging in?"

"I'm doing alright. How are your preparations going?" The killer smile that grew on her brother's face matched that of a shark.

"Levy, Cana and Alzack have all set up some great tricks for holding off attackers! We'll beat them back so hard that they won't even be able to call themselves men!" Her brother's undying confidence brought the slightest smile to her face.

"Anything that can help will be great. But how are you doing Elf-ni?"

"You don't have to worry about me, I'm too manly to go down. After all, I have to protect you now remember?"

"…You shouldn't have too. I'm not even sure I want you too."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't want you to get hurt Elfman. If Jose has his way, none of us are going to be walking away from this. I just wish that I could help, I hate how useless I am. I'm your older sister, you shouldn't have to look out for me!"

"You're not useless Mira. You just take care of everybody in a different way. The guild wouldn't even run without you! And looking after you will never be a burden, I'm a man! It's my job to protect everyone!"

"But you shouldn't have too! If I was even half as strong as I was before things wouldn't be so bad. But they have six S-class mages and right now you're one of the strongest fighters we have. You're going to end up having to fight one of them! We barely have anyone in that strength category, you'll have no choice. But I don't want to lose you too!"

"You won't. I'll make you a man's promise-"

"NO! Don't promise me as a man. Promise me as my brother! Promise that'll you'll do whatever you have to in order to win!"

"…Alright. I promise as you're brother that I'll survive, no matter what."

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Goku watched as Kagura leapt straight off of Nimbus before he even had a chance to slow down, using her gravity magic to cushion her fall. In a matter of seconds she was out of sight, barely having time to give him a quick wave before he was gone. But there was no way he was going to stop, not when the ominous feeling was growing worse with each passing second. Not when one of his best friends lay helpless and injured.

Just the thought of it set his ki raging like a tempest, chaotic and uncontrolled. He barely had the sense of mind to keep it contained when every last part of him just wanted to _let it out_!

Snarling to himself, the teen mentally grabbed hold of his power and forced it back. He couldn't afford to waste it now, he'd never every single drop if he wanted to pull this off. So he wouldn't cut loose, he wouldn't vent on the landscape. Instead he would just push Nimbus to even greater speeds, completely ignoring the mach cone that burst to life around him. He wouldn't be late.

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Deep in the woods outside Magnolia in the small cabin of the healer Porlyusica, Erza Scarlet lay trapped within her own mind. Having fallen unconscious immediately after Jose's attack, not even the legendary healer had realized that Erza had been aware of her surroundings for the last twelve hours. Her mind had awoken shortly after she had been dropped off with the healer, unlike her body. She felt every spell, every salve, tasted every potion forced down her throat, and flinched almost endlessly at the damage to her body. She could feel Porlyusica tend to her wounds almost constantly, and the regenerative potions were already working their magic in restoring her body to its prime. In a matter of hours her wounds would be completely gone, as though she was never injured to begin with.

But all of that was utterly useless if she couldn't help fight. Erza was a warrior, and if there was one thing any warrior hated, it was helplessness. She had to get back to the guild if she wanted to do anything but her worthless body wouldn't respond. After minutes of fruitless struggling to move, the teen decided to focus on just one part of her body and build from there. She'd be damned before she allowed her comrades to fall, and there was no way that she was going to give up. After a moment of contemplation, the red head focused the entirety of her will on what would hopefully be the easiest part of her body to make respond.

'Wiggle your big toe.' Every drop of her mental strength went into that command, but the digit remained stubbornly still.

'Wiggle your big toe.'

'Wiggle your big toe.'

'Wiggle your big toe.' On and on she chanted in her head like a mantra until she lost any sense of time. It went on in an endless loop until it was everything she had, a desperate attempt to bring her body back to life.

Then it twitched.

The chant cut short and Erza froze in a moment of disbelief. Cautiously, she sent the command once again. The digit responded.

Inwardly the girl grin. The hard part was over.

'Now, let's get these other piggies wiggling.'

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Every still-standing Fairy sprinted outside when the ominous booms filled the air. Each sound was accompanied by tremors that shook the building. Chandeliers were rocking across the ceiling and dishes were sent crashing to the ground. When the mages assembled outside, the sight of a four-legged castle greeted them. The machine walked through the ocean behind the guild high above the water, coming to a stop several hundred meters from shore. Each window was filled with the faces of sneering Phantoms, calling out taunts and insults at the vastly outnumbered Fairies. More importantly, sticking out of the castle was the single largest cannon that anyone had ever seen.

"After we are done kicking their asses I want to loot that thing." Bisca declared, staring at the cannon with a greedy look in her eye. Alzack sighed in exasperation behind his partner before wincing as a massive voice echoed out from Phantom's fortress.

"Attention Fairies! We have come for the complete and total annihilation of your guild, and we shall accept nothing less! You have thirty seconds to say your goodbyes!"

"Hey dumbass!" Cana's voice rang out across the waves. "You need Lucy alive remember? Blast us and you get her too! Come down here and try and take her from us, I dare you!" The challenge was taken up by many of the Fairies and dozens of insults and threats were tossed through the air. Inside the castle Jose merely smirked.

"A nice bluff girl, but it's simply that. A bluff. Do you truly take me for a fool? I placed a tracking seal on the girl while she was unconscious in my possession. I know for a fact that she is nowhere near the blast radius. Though maybe, just maybe, right before my mages drag her out of whatever hole she is hiding in, she'll be able to look out the window and watch as every last one of you is reduced to ash. Now, feel the wrath of Jupiter!"

Fairy Tail went into a flurry of motion when a mass of black energy began to concentrate around the barrel. Gray summoned the thickest shield he could, Natsu tried to burn a trench in the ground for people to take cover in, Cana and Levy joined Bisca and Alzack in firing off as many pot shots into the windows of the castle as possible before they would be forced to dive into cover. But they all knew it was futile, nobody present could hope to counter the power of the gigantic weapon. So when the back legs of the machine were suddenly sliced apart and the beam was redirected far above their heads, Fairy Tail went absolutely wild.

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Despite the sudden jostling as the back half of the castle suddenly landed in the water, the technicians of the Jupiter Cannon were nothing if not professional. They quickly cut power to the beam, canceling it before more than a third of its power had been used up.

"Sir, five minutes until we have recharged and redirected the cannon!" Jose nodded in response, barely suppressing the rage he was feeling. Snapping at his technicians would be useless; they already knew exactly what he expected of them.

"Report. I want to know what the hell just hit us!" The techie nodded and brought up footage of the side of the castle just before the blast. At first the screen was clear, but all too quickly a yellow cloud came into view at incomprehensible speeds. An orange clad rider summoned up a yellow disc in the palm of each hand and lobbed them at both of the back legs, slicing them neatly apart and destabilizing the entire castle. Jose watched the video in silence, his face giving away nothing as the screen turned to black. Silence permeated the air for several moments before the Shadow Mage turned to the techie and spoke.

"It appears Fairy Tail's reinforcements have arrived."

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Goku ignored his friend's cheers as he swung around for another attack. Alerted to his presence now, the dozens of Phantom mages filling the windows started firing up at him. With practiced ease Goku guided Nimbus around the attacks and looked over his opponents with mild interest. There were a lot of them, but the vast majority of them were far beneath his level. No need to waste his energy on the small fry.

The energy in the cannon was slowly starting to rise, and one stronger energy signature was coming from somewhere further down the barrel. That was something he should look into, but first things first.

He needed to get serious.

The weighted boots were the first things to go, kicked off his feet and launched towards a nearby window like a cannonball. The pair of weighted shoes smashed into a pair of mages and knocked them back into the stone wall behind them with enough force to crack the stone.

Two down.

His armbands were the next to go, swerving out of the way of a black lightning bolt and another pair of mages went down. Even as the Phantom's continued to fire on him they suddenly found themselves fired upon in return. Alzack and Bisca had scaled to the top of the Fairy Tail's guild hall and were laying down covering fire for him. Goku nodded at them in thanks even as he shed his blue undershirt and dropped it through a window where it crushed a trio of mages to the ground. Before they had a chance to recover a glowing card flew in beside them and detonated in a ball of electricity. Soon the entirety of Fairy Tail was firing upon Phantom Lord, forcing the arrogant attackers to take cover deeper in the castle. With that problem resolved, Goku drove Nimbus straight down the barrel of Jupiter.

At the end of the barrel the cannon gave way to a wide chamber. Roughly a half dozen differently colored lacrima were set up around the room, set around a larger lacrima that was lined up directly with the barrel. The smaller lacrima were constantly sending sparks of magic into the larger one, charging it bit by bit. Goku could feel the crystal's growing energy stores, gradually working their way back up to the level they had been when the cannon had fired before.

Before the lacrima stood a smirking man. Clad in a crimson robe, the man had hair that was equally split between black and white with a black line painted across his face. His power significantly higher than the other members Goku had come across so far, high enough that the teen hopped off Nimbus and sent the cloud back to wait at the other end of the barrel.

"So, I take it that you're the worthless Fairy that made our first shot miss? I'll commend you for a neat trick, but you can't really think that you accomplished anything did you? Three more minutes until this cannon fires again, and then you and all of your friends will burn."

"I'll give you one chance. Leave right now so I can destroy this cannon and you won't get hurt." The man's boisterous expression fell away at Goku's bland declaration and a snarl took over his face.

"You have no idea who you're talking to, do you bastard? I am Totomaru of Phantom Lord's elite Element Four! I'm an S class mage! You aren't going to destroy this cannon. In fact, all you're going to do… IS BURN!"

Goku had no room to dodge the massive ball of fire that sprang to life in front of him and only had time to throw his hands up before his eyes before the attack crashed against him. Totomaru was laughing the whole time, practically squirming in delight at the thought of his opponent burning to ash. But as the blast faded away, the laughter petered out into a stunned silence. His skin grew ashen and he visible trembled as Goku stepped forward, completely unharmed from the attack.

"What…how…what are you?"

"I fight another fire mage on an almost weekly basis. I guess that I've just gotten so used to it, weaker fire can't really hurt me. Tough luck for you, I'm probably the worst opponent you could go up against right now. Well, second worst. Natsu's probably hungry right now." Goku closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, decking the man hard enough across the jaw to knock him straight into unconsciousness. Surveying the room once more, Goku tossed the fire mage over his shoulder and dashed back down the length of the barrel. Even as the magic behind him approached its peak, the teen hopped onto his faithful cloud and floated a short distance away, dead even with the barrel. Then he raised a single hand, palm aimed straight towards the inner lacrima.

"HEY!" Goku bellowed out, loud enough for every mage on both sides to hear him. There was a momentary lull in the battle as they all turned to see what appeared to be a single man flying suicidality at the end of the cannon.

"PREPARE YOURSEVLES!" Inside the chamber, the magically energies had reached their peak. With a deep chuckle, Jose himself pushed the button that would launch the blast to erase Fairy Tail from existence once and for all.

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

A pulsing pale blue orb burst from Goku's palm and traveled three quarters of the way down the barrel before Jupiter fired. The moment the two energies collided the Ki attack expanded to fill up the entire tunnel. Slowly Jupiter began to push the Ki blast backwards down the tunnel back towards a smiling Goku. Another orb burst to life in his hands and was sent sailing straight towards the first.

"And welcome to Fairy Tail."

The explosion was titanic, when the Ki blasts detonated they forced the magical beam straight back down the barrel at the crystals that had housed them. The detonation was forced straight upwards, all but vaporizing the entire roof of the castle. The cannon was reduced to molten slag, the few pieces of it that hadn't been vaporized all together.

Stunned silence filled the air. Nobody made a move as Goku flew back down and rejoined his friends, casually tossing his unconscious captive off to the side as he did so. For a moment everyone just stared at him. Naturally, it was Natsu that broke the silence.

"Goku…that was unbelievable! You just took out that cannon all by yourself! When the hell did you get so strong?"

"Heh, I didn't overpower it or anything, I just redirected it. Taking a shot like that head on would have used up way too much of my strength. When you're fighting someone stronger than you, deflection and redirection are always better than trying to outmuscle someone. I just applied that to blasts instead of fists."

"Well, whatever you did, it worked." Gray remarked. "What's next?"

"Well, that Jose guy's probably going to want my head right about now. I think I'm going to give him a shot at doing that himself. Anyone want to come with?"

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

FAIRY TAIL RALLIES! WITH THE JUPITER CANNON DESTROYED, PHANTOM LORD SUDDENLY FINDS ITSELF ON THE DEFENSIVE! IN AN ACT OF RAGE JOSE WILL UNLEASH A NEW WEAPON ONTO THE FIELD, ACCOMPANIED BY HIS STRONGEST WARRIORS!

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE PHANTOM MENACE PART 4: THE FARIES STRIKE BACK!

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_(Quick, completely non-canon to this story, omake. Courtesy of S&amp;D)_

"Are you sure your head is okay Goku? A mountain just fell on it."

"Who the hell is Goku?" He replied, getting to his feet rubbing his head.

"What? You are."

"No I'm not. I am Kakarot! A proud member of the saiyan race who is going to destroy this planet and everything on it!" Gok- Kakarot turned and launched a blast of Ki that blew up the entire mountain range behind him. "Yes. This planet will tremble before my might! Bow before the saiyans! Bow and beg for mercy!"

Kagura stared at the maniacal mage's back, eyeing the bump on the back of his head. Glancing at the leveled mountain range she made a split second decision.

She bashed him on the head with Archenemy, slamming the sword onto the wound.

The mage went down, bump fully flattened. Moaning in pain, he rolled over to look up at Kagura, who was clutching her sword uncertainly.

"Kagura?"

"What's your name?"

"Uh… Goku?" He asked looking at her in confusion. "Why do you ask? Did you hit your head or something?"

"…No. Don't worry about it."


	23. Phantom Menace: Part 4

**AN: **For this chapter, one of my readers has asked me who my favorite Fairy Tail characters are. I'll oblige, here are my top 10.

10\. Natsu- A decent enough character, however in all honesty he doesn't interest me as much as the other characters on the list. His attitude seems a bit abrasive at points and his ego can get annoying. But when he gets angry enough to get serious he always puts on a show, getting him a spot on the list.

9\. Levy- The cute little bookworm who can shoot lightning bolts.

8\. Happy- Fairy Tail best cat!

7\. Juvia- The shy little fangirl who happens to have one of the most impressive jealousy induced rage modes I've ever seen. Honestly, she feels just a step away from being classified as a Yandere.

6\. Gajeel- Basically Fairy Tail's Vegeta. Nuff said.

5\. Mirajane- Her personality shifts are hilarious and her fierce loyalty to her siblings is incredible. She's gone through some of the greatest character development of anyone in the series, going from a bratty kid to someone who is basically the mom figure of the entire guild.

4\. Elfman-As a brother, I can identify with Elfman's fierce drive to protect his sisters. He might not have the talent of his older sibling, but he makes up for it in sheer heart. Nobody in the guild works harder than Elfman does.

3\. Erza- It isn't her fighting skills alone that I like about this character, though I will admit a bias towards sword wielders. It's her dark past and her drive to push past it and protect her friends that I enjoy. She refuses to allow her past and consume her and focuses on the future. However, she is kept out of the top two spots due to her endless use of Nakama power up wins and her continued romance with Jellal. If I make a list of worst Fairy Tail characters, Jellal gets the 1 spot.

2\. Kagura- An even darker past than Erza in some ways, except without a real happy ending. Kagura is another sword wielder, instantly making her higher up on my list, and her reliance on her own power even while trying to look after her friends is refreshing in a series where friendship magically gives you random power-ups. She totally should have beaten Erza in their fight, she was stomping her the entire time until the Nakama Hot pants came out! I call BULL!

1\. Gray- Gray is on a team with a couple of monsters (and Lucy). This guy doesn't have the absurd strength of Erza or the dragon powers of Natsu. He's just a regular guy that somehow manages to keep up despite it all. By no means should he be able too, but somehow he's on a mostly even playing field with someone who's magic naturally almost completely shuts down his own. That takes some serious work. He's faced his personal demons just as much as Erza, and was even forced to combat what he believed to be a demonically possessed version of his father. Respect.

**Chapter 22:** **The Phantom Menace Part 4: The Fairies Strike Back**

When Jose had woken up after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Makarov, he had believed that he would never again experience such deep unbridled fury ever again. That moment of anger, that pinnacle of rage…had now been knocked sideways by some spikey-haired jackass.

His castle had been disabled and would be incapable of locomotion without hours of repair. The Jupiter Cannon, one of the most powerful magical weapons in all of Fiore had been reduced to scrap. One of his strongest mages had been taken down in a single blow. His followers were demoralized, quaking in their boots as pieces of their base crumbled down around their heads. For the first time since the war had begun, some of his people had doubt in their eyes.

Unacceptable.

He was not about to lose his revenge become some cocky punk managed to land a lucky shot. The bastard would pay for what he did. He HAD to pay for what he did. Jose wouldn't allow another Fairy Tail bastard to walk over him again. The freak had to die. Nodding to himself, the greasy haired man reached over to trigger his loudspeaker.

"Attention Phantom Lord! After that…impressive… display by the Fairies, I believe that it's time for us to begin taking things seriously. The boy who destroyed our weapon has caught my interest. I want him dead. I want to see him torn to pieces and scattered all across this castle and I want his head on a spike over our door! I want everyone set into their defensive positions, after that attack the fool will be overconfident and rush right in at us, that is about all the strategy a Fairy can handle after all. We shall meet him head on and show him what Phantom Lord is really capable of! As for the rest of the Fairies… they shall be slaughtered by my wraiths until they are erased from the Earth by our ultimate weapon! Prepare the Super Mage Phantom MK II!"

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Goku cast his senses out towards the massive castle as his friends gathered around him. Phantom Lord outnumbered Fairy Tail better than three to one, but the vast majority of them were far weaker than the average Fairy Tail member.

It wasn't a bad strategy; quantity over quality. Why bother spending years to train a small group to their full potential when you can just drown an enemy in armies of cheap, easily replaceable fighters whenever you want? Even he could get tired if he had to fight enough of them. Unfortunately for Phantom Lord, at a certain point that gap in power become too great for numbers to overcome. Hopefully, that would be the case here.

As Goku finished his scan a trio of powers caught his attention moving away from Phantom Lord's base. They were breaking away from the fight, heading off deeper into the city. Projecting his senses even further, Goku searched for whatever they could be after and found the energy signature of a cluster of his comrades just a short distance away. Of all of those energy signatures though, one stood out above the rest. It felt familiar.

"Hey Natsu…are there other dragon slayers besides you?"

"Yeah, Phantom Lord's got one, the Iron Dragon Slayer. He's the one who attacked Shadowgear!" Goku's brow furrowed as he stared into the city after them; he'd absolutely love to be the one to hunt him down, but…

"Natsu, Happy, that guy is heading into the city with a couple of Phantom's. Take them out." With a savage grin the pink haired teen nodded and dashed away, his best friend right beside him. Goku refocused on the castle in front of him, taking note of those around him and comparing power levels the best he could. As he scanned the building 3 of the 4 highest power levels suddenly jumped and began to siphon away into the air. Then the castle began to move.

The damage he had done to the building became irrelevant as new tile and stone warped into existence around the smoldering remains of the cannon. The back legs regenerated and began to shift inwards, fusing in the middle with the front limbs. Slowly the castle rearranged itself, standing so it towered over the entire city of Magnolia. The building took on a roughly manlike shape, towers becoming arms and the legs fusing together to support the thing as it stood taller than even Deliora had. A massive magical seal, the largest he had ever seen appeared in front of the mecha, a needle moving oh so slowly around the border, tracking the power he could feel flowing into it.

A countdown.

Panels on the front of the building sudden burst open and hundreds upon hundreds of shadowy wraiths flew into the air, circling the Fairy Tail building like a pack of sharks. The creatures shrieked as they sliced through the air and glared down at the defenders hungrily. The mages automatically shifted into a small circle, covering each other's backs. Goku lined up beside Elfman and Gray, talking rapidly to them even as he stared down the flying hoard.

"The ghosts are a distraction for them to charge up that seal. Don't know what it does but based on the situation it will probably mean game over for us. I can sense three difference people inside that building that are powering it. We need to get in there and stop it before it can finish. Do you two think you can handle an S-class mage apiece?" Gray gave a sharp nod and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. Elfman's standard confident grin split across his face as he agreed.

"There's no chance we'll back down, that's not what a man would do!"

"Good. From what I can tell, one is on the roof of the left shoulder, by the…rainclouds? Weird. Another one is directly behind the wall of the right, and the last is deep inside the castle. I'll take that one, it'll be a straight shot to Jose's room right afterward. Who do you want?"

"I can get up to the roof pretty easy with an ice pillar. Taking down whoever's up there should slow it down long enough for you guys to find your opponents too."

"Then I'll show the one in the shoulder the strength of a true man. He won't get away!"

"Hold it right there!"

The trio paused as Levy came dashing up.

"Levy!" Goku beamed, taking a moment to grab her in a hug and spin her around, "You're okay!"

"Good to see you too Goku!" Levy smiled, before pushing herself out of his arms and sliding into the circle beside the trio, Jet and Droy joining her. "What are you going to do about all the rest of the mages in there? You can't beat all of them, a member of the Element Four and then still go after Jose!"

"Ah, don't worry Levy, I'll be fine! I haven't even gone full out with another person since I fought Gildarts, and I don't need to beat Jose by myself. Elfman and Gray will both help once they win their own fights, right guys?"

"You aren't going in by yourself! Team Shadowgear is going in with you!" Levy's bold declaration was accompanied with a sharp glare at the rest of them, daring them to challenge her.

"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea? These guys could be pretty dangerous and-"

"All the more reason for me to make sure that you don't run in there like an idiot without backup! That is literally exactly what we tried last time. And now Makarov and Erza could die because of it! I guarantee charging in without backup is what they are expecting. Now stop arguing and let's go already!"

Goku paused for just a moment, weighing his options. There was no chance that she would just let him leave without trying to follow. Given what he expected to find in there, it probably wouldn't be the healthiest option forcing the trio to stay behind.

"Alright fine, but be careful in there."

"I'm not going to let them get me a second time. Don't let them get you either."

Nodding, Goku raised a palm towards the castle and fired a burst of ki, blowing a hole through the hall.

"Elfman, that's your entrance! Gray, make for the roof! Shadowgear, follow me! We're going to break in through the bottom and work out way up!" Elfman looked like he was about to charge before he took in the stretch of ocean between him and his goal.

"How am I supposed to get up there? Just being manly doesn't let someone fly!" Goku didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed the muscular teen by the shoulder, spun him around, and hurled him across the sky straight through the hole. Ignoring the dark glare he could just _feel _Mirajane sending his way, Goku threw Droy over his shoulder and motioned for Jet to do the same to Levy. The speedster followed with only a moment of hesitation and a massive blush as he scooped the word mage up bridal style and dashed after the martial artist. Goku reached the edge of the water, took a deep breath, and he _yelled._

The shockwave that burst into life before him parted the water and Goku moved like a bullet, dashing along the rocky surface of the ocean floor and launching himself up the robot's leg a split second before the water crashed back around him once more. Jet stood staring at the waves as they slide back into place, his face a mask of concentration. With a grunt he took off, blurring across the waves at Mach speed. The waves parted behind him as he came up to the robots leg just as Goku blasted in an entry point. The brick wall gave way to a narrow maintenance corridor, just wide enough to pass through one by one. Goku took the lead with no hesitation, his hand charged with ki to light the way. Droy forced himself to go next and motioned for Jet to take up the real, keeping Levy securely between them. They were in.

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When the wall behind her suddenly exploded, Lucy wasted no time gaping.

**"OPEN, GATE OF THE ARCHER! SAGITTARIUS!" **The man in the horse costume appeared to the sound of church bells and stood tall, his bow aimed at the three mages that swaggered through the entrance. They looked around the building in amusement, the majority of the space was filled with injured or unconscious Fairy Tail mages and they met every glare sent their way with massive grins. Gajeel took the lead, a dark skinned boy and girl flanking his sides as they lined up across from Lucy and Loke. Sagittarius stepped out in front of the pair, pulled back the string of his bow and launched a trio of arrows straight the heart of each Phantom. Gajeel's hands shot out to catch each projectile aimed at his comrades even as his jaws flashed, devouring the arrow that otherwise would have killed him.

"Boze, Sue, take down glasses there. I'll take out the cosplayer and grab the chick." Sue adjusted her jester cap and stalked over towards the orange haired teen, smirking like a snake. Loke took a deep breath and his rings began to glow. Then he made a mistake. He met her gaze straight on, and as their eyes met her grin widened.

**"Kaleidoscope."**

Loke's vision fractured.

It was like the world had shattered, cracks filling the air and shifting everything into a twisted funhouse of mirrors. Every direction only showed his beaten body and tired face staring back at him. Snarling like a jungle cat, the mage fired of a spear of light dead ahead. He fired straight at where he had last seen the Sue, hoping to catch her off guard and force her to drop the spell. Instead, the light ricochet of the mirror and slammed into his chest. Struggling to shrug off the sledgehammer like blow, Loke desperately searched around him for any sort of gap in the deathtrap that he could exploit. But his blurring vision was met only with his own agonized face.

"Come on Sue, don't hog all the fun." Outside the mirror trap, Boze glared at Sue, who merely stuck her tongue out at him.

"If you want to do something he's right there." She gestured at her trap.

Grumbling, the Phantom advanced on the helpless mage. Lazily, he placed his hand on the mirror ball.

"**Disturbed."**

Loke screamed. All around him a horrific noise was clawing at his ears, scraping through his head, and bouncing off the mirrors to come back for seconds. Then all went silent as he felt a wet explosion go off on the sides of his head and straight through to his brain. He couldn't even hear his own screams of agony, nor could he feel his hands as they covered each ear. He couldn't feel the damp stickiness of the blood that leaked out past his shattered eardrums. Nor could he see the enraged faces of the injured friends that he was supposed to be protecting, forcing themselves to raise to their feet on his behalf.

When he managed to look up, all he could see was a hundred faces looking at him in scorn. Every one of them had green hair.

On the other side of the building, Lucy found herself cornered. Sagittarius was the most skilled archer alive and a truly staunch defender. But in medieval times, the bow and arrow had fallen out of use as greater advances in armor and metalworking left the weapon with far less killing power than in its heyday. Against someone who could coat their entire body in dragon forged iron with nary a gap or a weakness, the horseman was nothing more than a somewhat amusing distraction. Gajeel simply walked straight through the hail of arrows, occasionally catching one in his mouth, and almost casually stabbed the spirit straight through the gut. The apologetic look that the archer sent his summoner did nothing to ease the fear that spiked through her chest as Gajeel carelessly marched straight on towards her.

"End of the road Lady, now why don't you behave-"

**"WOOD MAKE: MALLET!" **

Gajeel tilted his head to the side just enough to avoid the wooden hammer that flew at him. His metallic gaze was capable of just enough expression to show his disbelief when he discovered his newest opponent was the purple haired girl Laki, with bandages and casts covering more than half her body. Her eyes were already glazed with pain and red stains were slowly spreading, her sudden movement had torn open her wounds.

**"ROAR OF SILVER!" **

Gajeel's half turned and backhanded the Vulcan that was charging at him from behind. The creature didn't try to reengage; instead it bounced off the floor and launched itself at Sue and Boze, joining the small army of colorfully painted pigs that Reedus had unleashed. The grinning monster snagged Sue by the hair, pulling her down and pinning her to the floor. Boze risked turning his attention away from the boars for just a moment, firing off a sonic boom that reduced the Vulcan to paint splatter.

Sue was just returning to her feet when two fists made of purple flame shot across the room and caught both teens straight in the cut, sending them crashing back to the ground. The boars leapt into the air and piled onto the pair with a half dozen heavy thuds. Their groans underneath were momentarily smothered before the image of the boars began to distort, the paints dissolving into a pile of goo that reformed into a pair of full body restraints bolting the pair to the ground.

Gajeel's eye twitched. That was the last straw. Everyone needed to die.

Gajeel pointed his arm and shot an iron pole at Laki's head. Another burning purple hand grabbed the back of the girl's shirt and yanked her back out of the way just in time. Macao smirked from his hospital bed, ignoring the concussion ringing through his head as he launched a dozen angry fists straight for the Dragon Slayer. A rough swipe of his arm knocked the attack away and straight towards Reedus. The large painter was forced to hurl himself out of the way, abandoning his attempts to summon his paint cannon.

A sharp crack filled the air and Gajeel felt something tugging at his throat, interrupting his plan to rip the Fairies to shreds. A thin cord had wrapped itself around his armored throat He glanced back to see Lucy, a whip in hand and matching his snarl with one all her own.

"What the hell did you think that was going to do? A puny little whip? As if you can choke me out like some cheap rookie? I'm _metal _bitch!"

"Actually, that was just the setup _BITCH!_" Celestial mages, while not the most combat oriented type of mage, make up for it by their absurd amount of magically energy. The power to unlock gates to other dimensions, let alone doing so multiple times in the same fight, would leave most normal mages past out on the ground. Lucy had no spirits to summon, so instead she had to get creative with her magic. Channeling her power straight through the whip as though it was a key, she forced magic right down its length.

Straight into Gajeel's nervous system.

Gajeel gave a strangled yell as lightning coursed through his body, forcing him to his knees as his neck began to char. Lucy yelled, forcing every bit of her magic into the weapon. She'd had enough, enough of watching her friends, her family, fight and bleed for her while she did nothing. Ever Fairy Mage in this room was hurt because of her, and if gave this maniac half a chance he'd probably kill them all.

Over her dead body.

"RRRAAAAAAAGH!" The cry was half anger and half desperation as her limits were reached and past and still she continued to channel more and more energy. Gajeel lurched, falling to all fours as sparks danced through the air around his body, setting fire to half a dozen storage crates around the building. When her magic ran out and her powers were depleted the girl fell hard on her butt, desperately gasping to satisfy her starving lungs. Macao let out a low whistle behind her at the charred visage of the dragon slayer before he fired off a massive fist to launch Gajeel through a stack of crates.

Despite how much they wished otherwise, none of the Fairies were in any condition to check on or help one another. They mostly lay were they had fallen, listening to the sounds of battle back towards their home. It wasn't until a low crunching sound filled the air that the few conscious members returned their attention back into the room. They were greeted with the sight of a badly charred Iron Dragon Slayer munching on a steel bench-press.

"Enough." Gajeel's voice was low and even, like his anger had risen so high it had come full circle back to calm. "I have had enough of you pieces of trash getting in my way. It's time to die."

Cursing, Macao quickly surveyed the few the few fighters he had to work with. Lucy was wiped out, she hadn't even moved from her spot when Gajeel had spoken out. Laki was slowly trying to reseal her wounds with tiny wooden splinters in the place of stiches; no way would she be of any help. Reedus looked well enough off but his powers were already preoccupied containing the other two. Loke was still trapped in the mirrors. There was no guarantee he would be of much help.

Gajeel looked around the room, trying to decide who was first. Eventually his eyes fell on Macao, the only one left with any strength to fight back. With a flick of his wrist he brought his sword arm to bare, extending it straight across the room for the old man's heart.

Macao flinched, shutting his eyes closed so he wouldn't have to see his end coming. But instead of a bloody end, the room was suddenly overwhelmed with a blistering heat. Macao opened his eyes to see the back of Natsu Dragneel, his blazing hand closed around the blade more than a foot away from its intended target.

"So this is what passes for a Dragon Slayer in Phantom Lord? A bully who can't even handle a couple of guys in their hospital beds? You disgust me."

"And now the Fire Dragon Slayer is here too. That's just terrific. Are we waiting on anyone else? Is someone going to jump out at me when I take you down?"

"Nah, you don't need to worry about that. I can kick your ass by myself just fine!" Natsu cracked his knuckles, wisps of smoke rising from his hands. Behind them, Reedus took advantage of their bickering and painted a group of boars to drag Laki, Lucy, and the restrained Phantom mages out of the line fire.

Gajeel and Natsu launched forward at the same time, each slamming their right fist straight the other's face. Natsu grimaced as a trickle of blood rolled off his knuckles onto Gajeel's scaly armor. He began to pull back his arm to throw another shot but Gajeel was faster. Rather than retracting his fist he shot it forward, latching onto Natsu's ear and yanking it down hard. Natsu was pulled off balance and stumbled forward straight into an incoming metal club. His hands went to his gut as he groaned in pain and Gajeel took advantage of the distraction, slipping his hand to the back of Natsu's head and slamming him at full strength straight down into the concrete. Then with his mouth inches away from the Fire Dragon Slayer's back, the Iron Dragon Slayer opened his maw.

"**IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!" **A hail of shrapnel bombarding his body, Natsu gritted his teeth and summoned fire around his fist once more.

"RRRRRAGGGHHH!" From within the attack Natsu burst upwards and unleashed a mighty uppercut. The terrible attack was cut short as the blazing fist slammed Gajeel's jaw closed with a sharp snap.

**"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** Macao's jaw dropped when the back half of the warehouse disappeared in a tornado of flames. The entire area was alight in an orange glow, and in its center stood the two dragon slayers. Natsu's back was a collection of shallow cuts and blood while Gajeel's metallic scales had cracked somewhat under the intense heat. Little puffs of smoke drifted up from across his body, intermingling with the slow burn of the wooden building. Scowling, the older mage finally rolled himself off of his hospital bed, walking through the flames to take position a few feet behind Natsu.

"And there it is!" Gajeel snarled. "The second things start looking rough for one of you bastards, another one steps in to save everything! Aren't you a dragon slayer you bastard? Where's your pride? How can you claim to be one of the strongest guilds when you endlessly coddle one another?"

"Coddling? I think the word you're looking for is teamwork you little punk. We help each other to be strong. You on the other hand, you're all alone kid. When you finally fall, there will be nobody to help you up. You'd be better off just giving up now."

"Like hell! I don't need anyone to help me up. I'm strong enough to do that myself! So go head and stand together, you'll be easier to knock down that- ack!" The Dragon Slayer's tirade was cut short as he felt something slimy slap into his face. Snarling the teen ripped what appeared to be a fully-grown tuna off his face and whirled around, his rage morphing into bewilderment as he took in his attacker.

"…cat?"

"You big jerk! You're not going to get away with hurting our friends!"

"…talking cat?" Gajeel's arm shot out like a grappling hook, snagging Happy and bring him right up to his scaly face. He turned the blue cat over in his hands, taking in his strange fur, large head, and his little knapsack with a dull expression. Natsu watched on absolutely horrified, but unwilling to charge and put his best friend in even further danger.

"…you're my cat now."

"Wha- I am?!" Happy wailed, struggling.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Natsu roared.

"You're my cat! I'm going to bring you back home with me when this is done. I'll take good care of you and give you all the fish you want!"

Happy froze. "…Really? All I want?"

"HEY! DON'T YOU LISTEN TO HIM HAPPY, IT'S A TRICK! YOU UGLY BASTARD, YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM! HE'S MY CAT!"

"Is he now? We have no choice then, the winner of our fight gets the cat."

"THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS!"

"How you gonna stop me once you're beaten to a bloody pulp?"

"YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GONNA BE UNCONSCIOUS! **FIRE DRAGON: FLAME WING ATTACK!" **

Gajeel gently tossed Happy onto one of the hospital beds and dropped to the ground, kicking out at Natsu's gut as he passed overhead. The first kick halted Natsu's momentum, leaving him easy prey for the next kick that morphed into an iron club. As the Fire Dragon Slayer flew away, a purple claw passed underneath him and latched itself onto Gajeel's still extended limb. Macao whipped the talon around over his head, slamming the Phantom mage into three different walls in just as many seconds. Gajeel just chuckled the whole way around. Now that he wasn't so angry, it was just funny to watch these weaklings try to hurt him. With practiced ease he snapped arm into a giant length of chain that he sent hurtling through the air. The weapon hurled around Macao's extended arms, lashing them together and breaking his concentration. Twisting as he landed, the Phantom mage sent older mage crashing straight into Natsu as he returned to his feet.

Natsu turned his tumble into a roll, hopping back up to his feet. The teen threw his hands behind him like afterburners, rocketing across the room to land a blazing kick onto Gajeel's face. Gajeel's club leg sunk itself into the ground like an anchor and his scales gleamed as they absorbed the blow, their cracks spreading even further from the heat. But he held his ground and slammed Natsu into the ground, leaving them standing in front of each other, matching snarls on their faces.

Skill went out the window. Power and complex spells fell away in favor of sheer brute force. The two stood face to face hitting the other any way they could. Blood dripped down Natsu's knuckles while the shattered armor began to dig into Gajeel's face, sending tears of red rolling down his cheeks. Natsu's right eye swelled shut while Gajeel felt a rib crack. They didn't care, nothing else mattered. They just wanted to beat the shit out of each other.

A low shot snuck under Natsu's guard with enough force to make him gasp in pain and bring tears to his eyes. Gajeel grinned wickedly at the opening and sucked down a huge breath.

**"IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!" **With a bloody cry Natsu was sent hurtling across the room and crashed straight through Fairy Tail's abandoned medical station. Groaning in pain the teen tried to stand rise to his feet. Gajeel stalked across the room, a widening grin on his face.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted. Guess this means I get the cat after all."

"Hey brat, aren't you forgetting about somebody?" Gajeel turned his head to see a bloody but grinning Macao with his hands outstretched.

**"PURPLE RAIN!"**

Over a hundred miniature fireballs burst out of the seal Macao created and pelted Natsu all across his body. Gajeel blinked in surprise at the unexpected maneuver before widening his eyes in panic. The purple flames began to collapse around themselves as Gajeel dashed forward, his arm taking the form of a club once more. A hand burst from the flames and caught the weapon with such strength cracks were sent along its length. As the last of the purple fire vanished down Natsu's gullet the club shattered into a thousand pieces. Gajeel scrambled back, his eyes darting around the room for any manner of metal for him to devour.

"Macao…thanks for the meal. Cause I'm all fired up now!" Gajeel's search was fruitless, the inferno the warehouse had become made visibility almost nonexistent and any metal that might have been there was either red hot or slag. Snarling, Gajeel hardened his armor as much as he could and crossed a pair of chain blades in front of his chest.

**"DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: FLAME LOTUS EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **

**"STEEL DRAGON'S SWORD!"**

A blade of flame met the iron sword and flowed around it, exploding into a grand fireball that engulfed the building. Macao snapped up a shield of fire that absorbed the heat, but sent him flying through the wall, tumbling end over end until he landed on the hard pavement. He lay still on the ground, gasping for breathe through heavily bruised ribs. He cracked open an eye just in time to see the building collapse.

Pushing himself back to his feet, Macao turned to survey the damage that the Dragon Slayer's clash had wrought. The building was no more. Reedus was a short distance away with both his prisoners and his charges lay out across the ground beside him. Macao exchanged a nod with the man and stumbled his way back towards the warehouse, grimacing with each and every step.

"Natsu? You dead?"

Ahead of him the debris started to shift. Macao sunk down into a defensive stance, his hands glowing with what little power he had left. From the ruins a mess of black hair came into view. The Phantom mage was broken, bleeding, and obviously unconscious. Natsu had the Iron Dragon Slayer hung right over his shoulder while Happy perched over the other. He Dropped Gajeel and glared at him.

"My cat."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

A COUNTDOWN TO THE END! WITH JUST MINUTES REMAINING UNTIL PHANTOM'S NEWEST WEAPON IS UNLEASHED, THE FIGHTING GROWS INCREASINGLY DESPERATE! THREE MEMBERS OF THE PHANTOM LORD'S ELITE REMAIN, AND ONLY THROUGH THEIR DEFEAT CAN FAIRY TAIL SURVIVE! CAN OUR HEROES BEAT THE CLOCK?

NEXT TIME OF ESCALATION! THE PHANTOM MENACE PART 5! BATTLES OF BRAIN AND BRAWN!

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Omake

"Alright Elfman, there's your entrance." Goku said, pointing to the hole in the he'd blown in the castle. "Do…uh, do you have a way to get up there?"

"Of course I do!" Elfman snorted, "and it is far manlier then anything anyone else could do." The mage sunk into a battle stance and stuck his arms out; magic circles enveloped his arms"

"**Takeover: Night!"**

Elfman's arms elongated, morphing into long leathery sheets.

"…Bat wings?" Goku blinked.

"Why is that spell called night?" Levy asked.

"Because," Elfman declared, flapping his arms rapidly and lifting off the ground. "I am JUSTICE. I am the NIGHT! I am the ELFMANBAT!" flapped through the air, and shot towards the phantom castle.

"…Damn." Gray muttered. "He wasn't joking, that's got to be the single most manly thing I've ever seen."


	24. The Phantom Menace: Part 5

**AN:** Fun Fact: I wrote a fair chunk of this chapter while trying to pass a kidney stone. If you think that sounds like it was painful then you would be correct. I then also accidently deleted over a thousand words of progress when I was about to finish and send this to my beta. I have decided that I dislike this chapter.

On the other hand, I absolutely LOVED the new episode of Dragon Ball Super. I don't want to spoil anything but damn, Episode 39 is now one of the best episodes that the franchise has ever produced. I'm absolutely blown away. Go watch that, seriously.

**Chapter 23: The Phantom Menace Part 5: Battles of Brain and Brawn**

Gray touched down lightly on the roof and slipped, sending him sprawling across the wet stone.

"The hell? Why is it suddenly raining?" Gray grumbled, scrambling to his feet. It had been nothing sunshine all week long. Now the freakish clouds were so bad he couldn't even see the sun any more. He shook his head.

It didn't matter. He just had to find the mage powering this giant robot and beat them up.

Click, clack, click, clack.

At the sound of footsteps, Gray turned. A woman was approaching him, wearing a thick fur coat and carrying a pink umbrella that clashed horribly.

"Greetings." She said, her tone flat.

"Are you one of the mages powering this thing?" Gray demanded. He had no time for niceties.

She stared at him, her eyes calm and level. "Yes. Juvia is one of the element four. She presumes you are here to attempt to defeat her?"

"I'm not going to attempt anything. I _am_ going to defeat you." Gray declared, staring her dead in the eyes as he raised his hands, frost beginning to crackle around them.

"I see."

The woman, Juvia, made no movement. Instead she merely met his gaze coolly. Gray tensed, reading himself for anything. If this woman truly was one of the Element Four, that meant she was an S-class, same as Erza and Goku. If he underestimated her, he'd probably die.

"Farewell then."

Suddenly, Juvia did an about-face and started marching away, her boots clacking smartly against the roof.

Gray gaped, but she didn't stop.

"Hey! Get back here Lady! I'm not done with you yet!" Gray gave chase. He couldn't just let her run away.

"Yes. That is what she will do. Juvia must make him hers." She turned, and pointed. The water in the air surged towards Gray, pulling him off his feet and trapping him.

What the hell?

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Mirajane was running. She had discarded her normal bartender dress for dark leather cat suit, reminiscent of her rebellious years. Several sacks were thrown dangerously over her back and her shoulders, banging against her on all sides with every step that she took. Mirajane was trying to help her guild mates fight off Jose's shades. But she didn't have access to the titanic magical prowess she used too.

Which meant she had to improvise.

She spotted Cana battling a short distance away, trying to hold off a group of the dark wraiths. The card mage was shuffling through her deck at a blinding pace, blasting the shades into smoke left and right. However, she couldn't see the new wraith that rose out of the ground behind her and rushed towards her back.

Mirajane reached into one of the sacks and pulled out a bottle of vodka, forcing a spark of magic into the bottle, she chucked it at the errant wraith. The sound of shattering glass was accompanied by a whoosh of air as the liquid ignited into a black and purple blaze. The creature howled out as it caught fire and flailed wildly through the air. Slowly though, the being began to deteriorate into a thin black mist before vanishing altogether, the magic maintaining it all burned away. Cana turned her head to the side just enough to catch what was happening behind her before she continued her assault on the other wraiths in front of her.

"That bottle better not have come from my secret stash Mira. I'm going to need it to celebrate once we finish kicking phantom ass."

"Which is more important: your booze or your life?"

"Oh come on, don't make me choose." Cana whined, sending a cloud of lightening at a group of wraiths harassing Wakaba. "What was that anyway?"

"I'm mixing some of my demon magic with alcohol. Makes it ignite once it shatters. These wraiths may be hunger for magic, but demon magic is much hungrier. It's literally eating them.

"Ooh, that sounds intense. I might have to get you to make me a cocktail out of that once this is all over."

"I'd bet a grand that just one shot like this knocks you on your butt."

"I'll take those odds! Now we just gotta finish up here and we're all set!"

"Yeah…" Cana glanced over again when the barkeep trailed off and saw the white haired girl staring almost desperately in the direction of Phantom Lord's mobile base.

"Mirajane I know that-"

"I'm going."

"-you're worried-wait WHAT? No! That's a horrible idea!"

"I refuse to allow my baby brother to fight someone that much stronger than him without any help! I can't let him die too!"

"What about you Mira? Whipping up some demonic booze doesn't mean you're back in the game. You don't have your powers anymore, you'd be lucky if you could help him at all! How would he take it if you came after him and got killed?"

"I won't die."

"Oh, you're so sure that you'll be fine but Elfman can't handle himself? He's a big boy now Mira."

"It's not a risk I'm going to take. I'll see you back at the bar!" Cana reached out for her but it was too late, Mirajane had already taken off at a dead sprint straight for the shore, whipping bottles at anything that got in her way. The brunette moved to pursue but a new wave of ghouls were already approaching the line of defenders. So instead she fell back, her cards already flashing as she moved to protect her home.

The Strauss' were on their own.

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"Non non non. That's three non's I say." Sol declared, firing off a pillar of stone at the overgrown beast mage. Chuckling to himself as the Fairy attempted to dodge it.

Sol had only ever ranked third amongst the Element Four. His earth powers and freakishly rubber body had always made him danger on the battlefield, but people like Juvia and Aria towered over him in magical ability. However, there was one advantage that Sol had over the rest of his compatriots.

He was a master of psychological warfare.

A simple touch told him his opponent's history as witnessed through the eyes of mother earth: their strength, their triumphs, their weaknesses, and best of all, their greatest _failures._ The ability to make earth golems that could mimic a lost loved one kept his enemies off balance until he sealed them away with a spell, trapping them in a tomb of stone with nothing but their darkest memories for company.

It was that very talent that had gotten Jose's attention. His mages had stumbled upon Sol's stone garden, where he housed each and every one of his victims. When Jose had arrived to survey it for himself, he had taken a single look, seen the statues for what they were, and then hired the mage on the spot.

Sol had collected so many wonderful statues since then, and he was about to have another.

Elfman's physical strength was immense, coupled with his beast magic he became a juggernaut that could no doubt shrug off the strongest of attacks as though they were nothing.

Unfortunately for him, his mind was another story.

With his broken past, the weight of the ultimate personal failure constantly hanging over his head, he was the perfect prey for the earth mage.

He'd started off well, the Iron Bull arms had been more than enough to fend off the stones that Sol hurled around and Elfman had slowly began driving him back. Finally he landed a blow, shattering the man's monocle and sending him crashing straight through the ground. Then the statue of Lisanna had appeared. Sol had relished how quickly the blood had drained from mage's face.

Elfman was left reeling backwards at the sudden rush of emotions and memories that bombarded him as he lay eyes on his little sister's face for the first time in years. Then Sol made that haunting, echoing voice had called out to him.

"Why didn't you save me Elfman? Isn't it a man's responsibility to take care of his family? Then why did you kill me?"

"You bastard! How dare you show me her face! Come out and fight like a real man! I'll tear you to pieces!"

"Hohoho, just why would you think saying something like that would make me want to come out?" The voice echoed around the room as though it was coming from a dozen different places at once. With the ability to move through stone as though through air within a stone castle, Sol was virtually untouchable.

"**ROCK CONCERT!"** A whirlwind of debris kicked out around the Takeover mage, bruising his body and sending him to his knees. He tried to bat the stones away but even with the beast arms the sheer volume of the attack overwhelmed him. Flying shards of rock began to shred his clothes and bruise his skin.

**"Beast Arm: Iron Bull's Megaton Fist!" **The attack was aimed straight down into the floor. The thick stone nearly collapsed under the force of the blow and the resulting shockwave shook the entire room, blasting away Sol's attack and dislodging him from his hiding spot on the ceiling. Elfman lashed out when he spotted the falling man, grabbing him by the shirt and holding him up in the air so that he couldn't escape again.

"Enough games! Tell me how to stop that huge weapon you guys are charging up!"

"All you need to do is beat me. If you can." Elfman grinned in response and hauled back his free fist. Suddenly a pair of hands snaked around his chest and yanked him back to throw off his balance. Elfman responded instantly, swinging around full speed and backhanding the attacker straight across the face.

Lisanna flew backwards, her neck at an unnatural angle and with tears in her eyes.

"Wha-what…what just…?" Elfman stumbled backwards, unconsciously dropping Sol to the ground in his shock. He stared at the broken girl, flashes of a monstrous arm bashing her across a forest on repeat within his mind.

"You did it again…" A voice whispered demurely in his ear. Elfman whipped around to see his sister standing beside him, her eyes downcast. He reached out for her but she stepped away, visibly trembling.

"You hit me again. Why Elfman? Was I a bad sister? I'm sorry if I was, I just wanted to be with you and Mira…" Elfman darted forward and wrapped his arms around the girl, desperately hugging at her. Then her body cracked and Elfman was left with nothing but dust in his arms.

"You can't even help it can you? You didn't mean to do it, but you're just so dangerous; like wild animal. I shouldn't have trusted you to control yourself. It's my fault, I didn't know any better." There were dozens of them. Dozens of perfect copies of his sister surrounded him, their gazes ranging from crushing guilt to heart-wrenching accusation.

"No Lisanna, no!"

"But what about everybody else brother? What about all of our friends and big sis? What if you can't control yourself around them anymore? What if it's Mirajane next time Elfman? She can't protect herself anymore, you'd kill her just like you did me."

"No! That's not true Lisa-AHH!" His desperate pleas were cut short when Sol's hand, pulsing with magic, landed a slap right between the shoulder blades. Suddenly his memories were becoming so much more vivid, so much more terrifying, while the rest of his body seemed to be slowing to a crawl. His nerve endings were already dead when the stone creeped over his flesh and coated his body.

"That's why this is for the best big brother. Now you won't have to worry about hurting anyone ever again. Join me in the endless embrace of the earth."

The last thing Elfman heard before he was completely consumed by his nightmares was a deep, angry, anguished scream.

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Mirajane had arrived just in time to watch some animated golem acting like her dead sister standing over her kid brother as he was incased in rock. Her rage ripped itself out of her lungs and into the air as her hands wrapped around a pair of bottles hard enough that they started to crack.

For Sol, all he understood was that one minute he was getting ready to celebrate the creation of his newest masterpiece and the next a scream was ringing in his ears and he was on fire.

"**ROCK CONCERT!**" Sol brought the whirlwind of dust and stone together around him, smothering the flames before they could do too much damage. Snarling he fired the rocks off like missiles, carpet bombing the direction that the fire had come from. But there was no sounds of impact, no cry of pain stone shattered bone. Sol stepped onto a rock and allowed it to rise up into the air, scouring his surroundings for any sign of the attacker.

It must have been the Fire Dragon Slayer. What a magnificent opportunity to dive into the mind of one touched by the dragons and to turn such a person into a piece of art. Never before had he been given such an opportunity.

In his excitement though, Sol made a similar mistake to what Elfman had done against him just minutes ago. He failed to look up.

Mirajane had summoned up another sliver of her demonic energy just before Sol had launched his counterattack. Hardly enough power to be threatening, but just enough to demonify her fingernails so that she could latch herself onto the wall and then throw herself up to cling on the ceiling. As Sol continued to rise ever so slowly up to her level she released the grip of her claws and let herself fall. Sol spotted the moving shadows and turned upwards just in time for Mira to rake her fingers right across his eyes.

Howling, Sol threw up his hand over the bleeding orb and began kicking up another tornado of stone. Mirajane was flung off the unstable platform and grunted in pain as a passing boulder crashing into her shoulder. As she tumbled to the ground she could feel the joint dislocate from the socket and the limb dangled uselessly. With her remaining good arm she reached into her bag and lobbed out another Molotov. The explosion was sucked into the vortex and vanished in a flash of orange. Moments later the rocks halted in their flight and tumbled to the ground. Mira leapt back out of the way of a pair of boulders and took cover near her brother's paralyzed form. When the rubble stopped moving she peaked her head out, searching in every direction for any sigh of the Earth mage. Nothing. Her senses on guard, Mirajane turned to Elfman and placed her hand on his head. His eyes had been coated in rock, as had the majority of his body. Barely any skin was left visible under the thick coating of stone, just enough to give her hope that the spell could still be undone. Unfortunately, with her arm mangled she was in no condition to bring him back to the guild. In fact, she wouldn't even be able to climb her way back down on the outside. Her only option was to wait and hope that her friends would be able to clear the castle and come to rescue them.

"Non non non, a good try but not good enough."

A massive stone hand burst from the ground behind Mirajane and wrapped its fingers around her neck, lifting her up into the air to come face to scared face with a glaring Sol. The man brought a bloody palm up to the girl's cheek and hummed thoughtfully. Mira struggle futility within her bonds but without the element of surprise she was barely better off than a normal person.

"Well, you seem to share the same nightmare as your brother. Hmm, maybe I can combine your statues somehow, position you so the pair of you look like you are protecting one another. Non! I should make you both be clutching a broken statue of your sister. I shall call it 'The Shattered Siblings' c'est magnifique. What do you think? At least that way you could be with family for the rest of eternity, you would be as beautiful as you are tragic!"

"You bastard, let my brother go!"

"Now why would I do that? Free he is ugly, will grow old, and eventually die. Non, I say. Like this, he will live forever within both his memories and my stone. A beauty of both the mind and body that shall show my artistic talent for centuries to come!"

Mirajane continued to struggle but only succeeded in further damaging her shoulder, drawing out another cry of pain.

"That won't work you know. You can't break solid stone in your state, injury or no. You've allowed yourself to fall apart, but I can fix you. I'll send you back into your mind, where you still can wield some degree of power."

Still Mirajane struggled, ignoring the protests her body sent her even when her restraints began to draw blood. Sol merely shook his head and approached her, his palm glowing once more. Mirajane instantly stopped her movements and instead whipped her neck around to face her brother.

"Elfman, listen to me! It's a trick, it's all a trick! You're trapped in your mind and you have to wake up! I need your help!"

"It's useless, he doesn't have the power to escape his mind."

"ELFMAN! YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD BECOME THE STRONGEST MAN ALIVE MAKE SURE THAT I WAS SAFE TO HONOR LISANNA'S MEMORY! A MAN DOESN'T GO BACK ON HIS WORD AND A MAN DOESN'T GIVE UP ON HIS FAMILY! SO WAKE UP!"

_Elfman watched his own arm kill Lisanna for the 6th time in as many minutes. Tears were streaming down his face freely as he watched Mirajane's horrified expression as her youngest sibling disappeared over the tree line. Then he was back at the cemetery with her, standing over Lisanna's grave, clutching each other like they were one another's only real anchor left to the world. _

_** "A MAN DOESN'T GO BACK ON HIS WORD AND A MAN DOESN'T GIVE UP ON HIS FAMILY! SO WAKE UP!" **_

_Mira…?_

Suddenly it all came rushing back. His family was in danger. But his body was trapped in stone, unable to respond. He couldn't do anything to help her. Unless…

Just as Sol was about to complete his seal on the eldest Strauss a massive shockwave of yellow energy erupted from beside him. Sol was blasted across the room and Mirajane followed in a rough tumble, her restraints utterly destroyed from the wave of energy. Groggily she looked up to try and figure out what happened. And up. And up.

Before her stood the Beast.

"Elfman…? Are you in there?" The Beast merely snarled, staring straight ahead and ignoring her presence. Sol dragged himself out of the wall and finally saw the creature himself, paling noticeably at the size of the monster. Slowly the man started to edge away towards the end of the corridor. The Beast whirled its head around towards the movement and its growls grew even deeper. Sol froze dead in his tracks, doing everything in his power to stop his trembling. The monster held the man's gaze for several seconds before turning to face Mirajane.

"Elfman, I know you can hear me. I know you can recognize your sister. But I need to listen to me right now okay? You need to get that guy!" Sol wasn't quite close enough to hear what the girl was trying to say to the creature, but the when she pointed his way and the Beast turned to look over at him, the implications were obvious.

"Sacrebleu!" A torrent of stone rose up behind the mage, each and every one glowing with power. "I won't-!" Whatever Sol was going to say was drowned out by the titanic, earth-shaking roar that the Beast unleashed. Sol shrank back, the control on his attack vanishing with his nerves and the barrage of rocks crashed back to the ground. The man turned and dashed down the hall screaming in fear. Then the monster was upon him.

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Elfman carefully help his sister to her feet and pulled her into a gentle hug. The room around them was utterly destroyed from his rampage, and Sol's was motionless in a crater behind them, very much unconscious.

"You did it…you were able to control the Beast."

"Yeah…I guess I did. Didn't have a choice really, I had to save you."

"Well, after I saved you anyways."

"Heh…thanks for coming after me sis."

"Always."

"So, I finally have my full powers back."

"Yeah…"

"So what do you say sis? Does this mean I've finally surpassed you?"

"You wish!"

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When they had encountered the first massive wave of Phantom Mages, Jet and Droy had leapt in front of Levy and readied themselves for battle. Their jaws had then almost immediately rocketed to the floor as Goku launched himself into battle. He tore through the Phantom ranks like a cannon ball, laying Phantoms out left, right, and center. He wasn't even wasting any energy on ki blasts; he was overcoming over two dozen mages with sheer speed and martial arts ability alone.

"He's dodging attacks that he can't even see coming! How the hell is he doing that?" Jet exclaimed.

"He can sense energy and feel tiny shifts in air currents. As long as he's actually paying attention to what he is doing he is ridiculously hard to actually hit. He just goofs off so much of the time that it doesn't really matter." Levy explained, ducking a flying body as she did so.

Goku caught an incoming warhammer with his bare hand and yanked it sideways to block a bolt of pink lightning. He ripped the weapon out of the owner's hands, kicked an attacker coming at him from behind, backhanded the hammer user across the room and then threw the weapon at the lightning mage before she could fire off another shot. With a hard grunt as the weapon struck her chest she sunk to the ground while Goku gave the room a once over for any lingering enemies. Not a single Phantom mage remained on their feet, nor had Shadowgear moved an inch since the attack had started. With a contented smile he rejoined his comrades.

"That was a pretty good warmup so far right? What do you think they're going to do next, send some of their best guys after us or keep trying to wear us down?" Levy brought a hand up to her chin to think but Droy was just staring at the marital artist incredulously.

"A warm up? You took down all of those guys by yourself?"

"I did? Sorry about that, I didn't mean to hog them all. You guys can take the next bunch to warm up if you want!" Jet and Droy shared uneasy looks while Levy merely shook her head.

"All Droy and I need to worry about is making sure that we wave our arms in the right way to use the right spells. Maybe leave a few for Jet though, he probably needs to stretch out his leg muscles a bit." Goku and Levy chuckled at Jet's spluttering indignation as they made their way down the next corridor. Goku calmly kicked open the door at the end and walked into a large room with the other three right behind him. Levy glanced around, taking in the second floor balcony, the curved staircase and the elegant pillars set up around the room.

"This has to be the main hall…but if that's the case then it should be really heavily defended. Where are all the guards?" Goku spread out his senses across the castle until he found another group of mages rapidly heading their way.

"They're coming. Maybe we took out that last group faster than they were expecting?"

"Elfman and Gray are around here somewhere as well, maybe they're drawing some of them away? Or maybe the guys outside are starting to push back?" Levy theorized. Goku shrugged, leaving the trio by the door to make his way further in.

"I don't know…actually I kind of doubt it. Elfman and Gray will probably burn through a lot of their power taking out their opponents, they might not be in any shape to help clear out the guards. The guys outside are just fighting those wraith things, not actual people. It will probably take them a lot longer to figure out how to deal with those things." Levy's eyes suddenly widened.

"I bet that's where the rest of the Phantoms are! They're down at the ground floor waiting for everyone else to wear themselves out against those wraiths so they can finish them off!"

"Oh. Yeah, we should probably stop that. What's the plan Levy?"

"…As much as I hate to say it, the rest of the guild are going to have to fend for themselves for now. Even with all four of us their numbers would be a problem, and unless we can take out whichever member of the Element Four is hiding around we'll all die anyway when that weapon reaches full power."

"I really hope it isn't the Air mage. He'd be the third one I've fought in about a week, and I'm getting a bit tired of them."

"Now is not the time Goku. Can you tell where he is yet?"

"He's been moving around a whole lot, give me a second to try and pin him down." Goku closed his eyes and team Shadowgear watched as his entire body visibly relaxed. Almost immediately though, they snapped open once more, wide with panic.

"Get away from the door!" The warning came too late. Jet had enough time to take a single step towards his friends to try and carry them to safety before a massive whirlwind kicked up directly in front of him, slamming him back into Droy and Levy so hard that they all went tumbling back down the hallway from which they came. As the trio passed the threshold the doors slammed shut, leaving Goku standing alone in the room. He took off towards the door immediately, his fist reared back and ready to punch straight through the wood. But less than an inch from impact a blue field sprang to life before his fist, reflecting his attack and sending him skidding back with smoke billowing off of his knuckles.

As he went to try once more, almost every single door around the room was suddenly thrown open. Nearly four dozen mages poured into room on both floors, taking aim at Goku from every angle. Then the ones on the first floor slowly began to move in and surround the fighter. Goku spared one more glance at the sealed door behind him before he turned to give the incoming group his full attention. He stepped up closer to them and they immediately halted, huddling together into defensive formations.

"Well, come on. I'm ready, aren't you?"

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Team Shadowgear landed in a tumbled heap in the direct center of the hallway. Jet was of course the first back on his feet and quickly helped the other two before he and Droy moved into a defensive formation around Levy.

The trio stared down the hall in silence as a flash of green and purple energy further down revealed a massive man clad in a green trench coat and hat. A large cloth bandage was wrapped around his head, though the fabric was soaked from the two constantly flowing stream of tears that ran down his face.

"The sorrow!" the man sobbed. "I came to hunt a monkey, but all I find is tiny rats. Helpless little rats more suited to puzzles and mazes than fighting."

"We're not rats! We're team Shadow Gear!"

"And once I burn away the shadows, nothing will be left behind but a rusted, worthless machine. It's so sad." Jet and Droy shrank back slightly before they caught themselves. The pair exchanged sheepish, nervous grins before stepping forwards once more. They both knew it was too late to go back now. Jet's entire body was literally vibrating with nervous energy while Droy's hands were clasped together, gathering magical power.

Levy stood stalk still, within the girl's mind, a whirlwind of ancient text and magic was rushing past at speeds that most normal people couldn't hope to interpret. Everything she knew or suspected about her opponent, anything and everything about his type of magic and any past users. Then her eyes darted to her teammates and she compared her findings side by side with what she remembered, comparing each and every possible combination for the best available options. Finally, her thoughts stilled and she truly began to focus on the situation at hand.

"Aria, practitioner of Airspace magic. Strongest of Phantom Lord's Element Four, arguably their strongest mage altogether. The mage with a technique capable of defeating a member of the Wizard Saints."

"Oh dear, my reputation precedes me it seems. How sad that yours does the same."

"Keep thinking that big guy. Team Shadow Gear are the best puzzle solvers you could ever hope to find. It's why we're gonna beat you right here, right now." Jet and Droy glanced at her nervously. To their surprise she looked completely serious, her eyes were level and there was a smirk on her face, they knew that look. It was the look that made them both helplessly head over heels for her from the word go.

It was the look that said she had a _plan_.

"How sad, the team leader has gone mad. Don't worry little rat, I shall take your pain away soon enough." Levy barely showed that she heard, her focus had already turned back to her teammates.

"Split up, the attack he used to beat Master can only be used in very close range and it takes time to cast. As long as we don't group up he won't be able to catch us all in it. Jet, get behind him and keep him flanked. His basic attacks are invisible for the most part, so make sure that you just get out of the way if he so much as points at you. Move in and out, aim for vital points. Airspace mages are notoriously weak physically, no matter how big they might look. Droy, he can cloak himself in his magic to turn himself invisible. Fill the air with as much pollen as you can, we'll be able to watch for disturbances in that to keep him from sneaking up on us. Get a screen of carnivorous planets out here between us, anything that works by pressure and can incapacitate. I'm going to use the same strategy that we did on that basilisk, wait for my signal." The two boys saluted and Jet took off like a rocket, zipping across the hall and getting behind Aria in the blink of an eye. The fairy landed three-dozen consecutive punches to the man's kidneys before he was able to counter.

**"Airspace: Zetsu!" **Jet dove out of the way and only getting clipped on the shoulder by the wind. Still, he was sent bouncing off the wall and crashed to the ground, clutching his head in pain. Aria raised his arm to finish the boy off when a tangle of vines shot down from the ceiling and pulled his arm upward, throwing off his aim.

Aria sighed, the fact that he had to waste his time with these pitiful puffs of air was just so _sad._

He calmly held his fire until his arm was pointed straight up before he fired again, vaporizing the plants entirely. They were quickly replaced though as the hall was rapidly beginning to resemble a botanist's dream house. Exotic plants covered the wall entirely, and the area where the other two kids had stood before had been overgrown so badly that he could no longer see them.

Yellow pollen was beginning to fill the air, clinging to everything that it touched. Aria formed an air barrier around his nose and mouth like a makeshift filter before he turned his attention back to the speedster. The boy had gotten back up to his feet but he was clearly groggy, still trying to shake the stars from his eyes.

So sad.

**"Airspace: Zetsu!" **Two things happened at once. An idle vine on the wall suddenly sprang to life, grabbing at Jet and yanking him out of the path of the attack and a fireball burst out from somewhere in the miniature jungle. Aria raised his hand and conjured a dead space barrier, the fire winking out when it passed through the airless space.

Now the Airspace mage frowned. The speedy rat had disappeared and the plants were growing denser by the second, no doubt burning through almost every drop of the plant mage's power.

It seemed the little rats had built themselves a little maze to hide in.

Now though, they were actually starting to grow irritating. Even once the plant mage ran out of power, the pollen and greenery would endure until it was ripped out and disposed of. Of course, that didn't mean that he couldn't make matters easier on himself.

"So sad…The flowers grow so strongly to cling to life and now I'm going to have to make them wither away." Aria brought his meaty hands up to his head and began carefully unwinding his bandages, making sure not to tear them so he could use them later. "Soon this forest shall be nothing but brown, and your corpses shall lie among it. Finally the bandages fell away to reveal blood red pupils with white lines through them like a railroad crossing sign. Aria's full power had been unleashed.

The plants around him suddenly bloomed with flowers; each one had an orange word resting on its petals.

"Flashbang? How sa- AAAHHHH!" The attack was both blinding and deafening all at once and Aria suddenly found himself off balance, reeling desperately as he tried to regain control of his senses. As he flailed Jet, Droy, and Levy stepped out of the green to join him in the center of the hall. Their hands were linked and their eyes were all glowing with power. Then, as one they spoke.

**"ALL OR NOTHING! TEAM SHADOWGEAR'S UNISON RAID: BLAZING JUNGLE ENCYCOPEDIA!" **Every single plant in the room was suddenly moving as though they had been injected by caffeine. As though Jet was carrying them himself, the greenery dislodged itself from the wall, the floor and the ceiling and rushed towards Aria. The mage had no time to process what was happening, suddenly he was being wrapped up and the plants were fusing together, enhancing their strength and thickness to form a massive cocoon. Fiery words danced along every single fiber of the prison, moving like water across the surface.

**CONTAIN**

** STEEL**

** ENTRAP**

** IMPRISON**

** BIND**

** BARS**

** DRAIN**

** WEAKEN**

Those words and hundreds of others came together as the cocoon came together into a perfect sphere before falling hard to the ground. Levy watch the ball with bated breath, the words glowed red a final time and faded to white. Team Shadowgear let out a collective sigh of relief.

"And that's another puzzle solved."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

THE PHANTOM MENACE…AN EVENT THAT RUINED THE HOPES OF THOUSANDS. PEOPLE WERE LEFT DEPRESSED, WERE LEFT WANTING. THERE WAS NO HOPE IN SIGHT FOR QUITE SOME TIME, AND IT SEEMED THAT THINGS WOULD NEVER GET BETTER. BUT THEN, SOMETHING NEW ON THE HORIZON. SOMETHING TO WASH AWAY THE DARKNESS AND DESPIRE, TO BURN AWAY THE AWFULNESS THAT WAS THE PHANTOM MENACE. A SAVIOR, COMING TO FIX IT ALL. NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION… THE PHANTOM MEANCE MEETS IT'S END.

THE PHANTOM MENACE PART 6:

THE SPIRIT AWAKENS.

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

Levy waited with baited breath, her ball cap turned backwards as the plant ball rocked and beeped. Suddenly the ball stilled, letting out a final ding. The sound of triumphant music filled the air.

"All right!" Levy cheered, grabbing the ball and holding it above her head in a ridiculous display of sudden strength. "I caught an Alt-Aria! Now that we've beaten the final member of the Elite Element Four, we're ready to face the champion Jose. I hope my rival; Goku Oaks doesn't beat him the moment before we get there. I'd hate to have to beat him up."


	25. The Phantom Menace: Part 6

**AN:** Okay guys, here's the end of the arc. Took a bit longer to finish than I would have liked, but overall I think it came out pretty good. Also, the next chapter is already finished! It is written by Strum and Drang, originally it was supposed to be a little omake like the others but it got a bit out of control. It will be posted either one week from when this comes out or when I hit 420 reviews.

**Chapter 24: The Phantom Menace Part 6: The Spirit Awakens**

Gray raised a brow as the water mage squeaked and passed out, before shrugging and plopping down on the rooftop with a low moan. He was covered in bruises, he'd been nearly boiled like a lobster, and he was almost literally soaked to the bone. He eyed the unconscious mage carefully; she looked really happy for some reason despite the savage fight that had just taken place.

He'd nearly gotten whiplash from how fast she had gone from calm to berserk the moment he'd mentioned Lucy's name. He couldn't help but wonder what horrible thing Lucy had done to her to trigger that kind of response.

After a few moments he turn to look down at the battlefield still raging below. The Fairies were gradually getting pushed back, it looked like more than a third were down for the count; lying in a big pile surrounded by the able-bodied. Then he glanced back at the castle, that gigantic seal had vanished the moment Juvia had gone down, she must have been the last of the Element Four to fall. Which left Gray with a bit of a dilemma. Should he go down and reinforce the struggling defenders, or would it be better to go try and help defeat Jose? A picture suddenly flashed in his mind of Goku and Jose, likely the two strongest combatants left on the field, going head to head with the castle crumbling around them.

Yeah. Thanks, but no thanks. He chose life.

Down on the field Cana let out a bitter cry of pain as a wraith phased straight through her gut, sending her crashing to the ground twitching in pain. Decision made, Gray leapt straight off the side of the building, shooting a ramp beneath him as he fell. The moment he landed on the slick surface he had materialized an icy bow in his hands to launch a quartet of arrows at Cana's attackers, simultaneously defending her and creating a landing zone for himself. The teen landed hard on his feet and pulled the girl back up onto her own, ignoring the sharp protests of his ribs. Moments later the pair found themselves surrounded once again as yet another wave of creatures poured out of the castle. Gray smirked.

"Loser treats winner the next three rounds at the bar?"

"Oh, you are so on!"

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Goku was slowly becoming annoyed. The Phantom's had finally wised up and decided against just rushing him all at once. Now they moved in three groups, a melee group to keep him off balance, a ranged group to stop him from fully removing any of the melee mages from the fight, and a small healer group that was constantly patching up the people he took down and sending them right back out again.

Backhanding away a mace-wielding girl for the fourth time in as many minutes, Goku decided that it might be time to get serious. If this kept up, they would actually succeed in wearing him down. He punched apart a lightning bolt aimed at his head, ducked underneath a sword; thrust his arms out to the side, and screamed. The entirety of the melee team was blown across the room to slam into walls, pillars, and other mages. The group quickly moved to recover and the ranged mages were preparing their next move when Goku shifted out of his fighting stance and calmly stood to his full height. Then he thrust his hand forwards with two fingers pointed straight up to the sky.

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As one, wraiths and Fairies alike paused in their battle at the sudden massive flash of white light. A massive section of the roof had been blown sky high and Gray had to sidestep a falling slab of stone. Smoke was billowing out of the building, blocking whatever was happening inside from view. As he turned back to the battle and turned a trio of wraiths into ice sculptures he smirked to himself.

Yep, definitely the better choice.

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Goku breathed deeply, trying to calm his pounding heart from the massive surge of power. The room had been completely annihilated and he could sense unconscious bodies all throughout the area. Whether the number he felt now matched the number from before his attack, he couldn't be sure. Ignoring that for now, Goku turned towards one of furthest corner of the room.

"So, did you enjoy the show from back there?" For a moment there was no response but he maintained the same level stare, never wavering for a moment. Finally the shadows shifted like water and a man stepped out.

"Well now, that's interesting. Sensory abilities are exceedingly rare, especially for a combat specialist. I didn't recognize you at first, when you arrived on that little cloud of yours and destroyed my Jupiter. But that show you put on has jogged my memory. The newest and least famous member of Fairy Tail's elite. Not even popular enough to have been given a title yet like the Demoness or the Titania. I was so caught up in my victory that I forgot all of the research I put in towards learning about your guild, forgot that there were still fighters left that could challenge me. That was a mistake on my part, I should know better than to underestimate my opponents."

"So that would make you Jose then? I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"Ah, that's right. My notes mentioned how you enjoy fighting powerful opponents more than what could be considered healthy. Excited for the chance to test yourself against a Wizard Saint? I myself am quite excited for this. Once I've brought you down and throw your battered body from the top of my tower, the spirits of those last few defenders shall be broken. Not to mention, I plan to take the price of my cannon out of your body in blood."

"You know, normally you'd be right. Taking on powerful opponents, it's one of my favorite things in the world. There have been plenty of times where I've even let someone snag a dangerous object or give them time to fully power up just because I'm hoping for a better fight." Goku grinned, before scowling, "But not this time."

"The power of friendship then? You take me down so you can end the war and save the day?"

"That's a part of it. But that's not the main reason I've been looking forward to this. **You shoved your hand through my best friends back. I'm going to return the favor!"**

"Ah, revenge. Now that's a motive I can-ack!" The greasy man slid back clutching a bloody nose.

"Careful with that, you don't want your lipstick to run." The man snarled before he could compose himself, gritting his teeth together as he trembled in rage. He wiped off the trickle of blood down his face with his hand before he stared down at it, utter contempt in his eyes. He forewent cleaning off the blood and instead summoned his magic, summoning massive purple shadows all around him.

"I shall treat to you to unfathomable pain before I kill you for that." Three shadows shot forward like tendril, reaching out for the martial artist. Goku ignited his fists in an aura of ki and chopped straight through the shadows as he charged at the Phantom leader. Jose blocked the first incoming blow and the two began a fierce exchange of blows. Goku bobbed and weaved around dozens of shadowy fists and launched his own Ki enhanced strike for every attack sent his way. Every time their auras clashed burst of energy flew off of the two fighters and the ground cracked beneath them as they maneuvered throughout the room. Goku ducked underneath a wide roundhouse punch and jammed his fist into Jose's gut. The older man was sent skidding backwards, coughing blood.

"BASTARD!" Jose thrust has hand forward and suddenly there were dozens of tendril whipping through the air. Goku dodged backward, firing off short burst of Ki whenever a tentacle got too close. Snarling, Jose poured even more power into his attack. The shadows from around the room rose up, encircling Goku to assault him on all sides. His arms and legs were barely visible to the naked eye, battering aside the shadows in an unending blur of motion. The teen was caught off guard when one of the tendrils he went to strike broke apart, splitting in three that all wrapped around his arm and jerked him off balance. The rest moved to rapidly engulf him, coating him entirely in a cocoon of shadow. Smirking, Jose closed his fists and the ball erupted in purple lighting. A pained scream erupted from within the sphere that had Jose lipping his lips in excitement. Slowly he ramped up the power, trying to find the exact point that would make the teen snap.

Within the sphere Goku was twitching violently, it felt as though every last nerve ending in his entire body had been set on fire. His screams lasted for only as long as there was air in his lungs, the dark magic prevented any oxygen from entering. Suffocating, electrocuted, crushed, Goku could barely process the depth of the assault.

But he wasn't even close to being done.

Another detonation rocked the castle to its very foundations when Goku unleashed the full power of his Ki. A wave of white energy blasted from his body, shattering the sphere and dispersing it into the air. Goku landed lightly on his feet and greedily sucked in a few gulps of air.

"HAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Jose threw his hands in front of his face as it seemed a miniature hurricane had spawned in the center of the room. Brutal winds tore around the room, rocks and even the unconscious bodies of the Phantom mages were lifted off the ground and sent bouncing around through the air. And in the center of it all, Goku continued to scream. A pure white aura surrounded his body, slowly expanding and pushing back everything around him. The few tendrils that Jose tried to send his way were torn apart by the force Goku's aura alone. Then the winds halted, the debris settled, and Goku was gone. Jose blinked and looked around. The teen had simply vanished in thin air, something that he shouldn't be capable of.

The old man's eyes widened in realization and he whipped his shadows up behind him just as a sharp cracked filled the space near his back. Jose whipped around and was treated to the sight of a new crater just behind where he was standing, yet still no sign of Goku. Jose whipped his shadows up around him, creating a shifting barrier of energy. Tendrils constantly shot out in every direction, fishing for the missing Fairy. Then Goku reappeared right in the middle of the shield and slammed his fist straight into Jose's spine.

The leader of Phantom Lord cried out as his back arced painfully before he swung backwards with a shadowy backhand. Goku caught the arm by the wrist and squeezed. Jose only just had time to use his magic to reinforce the bones before they snapped, and the split second he took to do so gave Goku an opening.

Punch to the throat to disorient. Follow with quick jabs to shoulder joints to decrease mobility. Duck shadow blast from the left, take advantage of new positioning. Punch to the knee, combo with side kick as he falls. Finish with Ki blast to send him across the room.

Start to finish, Jose was sent hurtling across the room in just under 10 seconds. As the man rose to his feet, he was greeted by the sight of a rapidly expanding blue light.

"HAAAAAAAA!" With sudden urgency, Jose threw a titanic wall of shadows before him. The blue beam smashed into the wall like a battering ram before detonating, engulfing half the room in a pale blue glow. When it faded away, Jose was still standing tall, his hands smoldering from his attempts to block the attack. Goku frowned.

"You're a Wizard Saint aren't you? I know I'm not on that level yet, so why are you so weak?"

Jose snorted.

"That title is one step short of meaningless. There are plenty of mages capable of matching up with the Saints; the council just doesn't like recognizing them. They would rather pretend that there are no wizards capable of going against their chosen elite to prop of their system of power. As for my current level of power…it's just a bit taxing to simultaneously battle every single mage of Fairy Tail at once."

"…Wait, what?!"

"Those wraiths that they've been fighting, ever so slowly wearing them down. They're all a part of me, a part of my magic. As we fight, I've had to split my concentration over a hundred ways to pilot them. But since you insist on being difficult, I suppose I'm going to have to signal the last remains of my forces to attack and dispense of my extras. Congratulations little Fairy. You shall have my full attention."

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Gray and Cana grinned widely as all of the wraiths suddenly began pulling back, flying straight up into the sky. Soon the air was filled with Fairy Tail taunts, cheers, and catcalls.

"HA! About time they start running! Well Gray, I do believe that my 36 beats your 29. When do you want to hit up the bar?"

"Heh, I can't even be mad at this point. I'm just glad to see those bastards leaving."

"Yeah, no kidding… wait, why are they just flying straight up? Shouldn't they be going back to their castle?"

"Oh…crap that might be bad." The Fairy Tail mages watched as the wraiths began to condense in the air, forming a solid mass of back energy.

Then it began to fall.

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER! ICE MAKE DOME!" Gray led the charge as every able-bodied mage threw up any and every sort of defense that they could over themselves and their injured comrades. The orb fell in perfect silence until it hit the roof of the guild hall, where it detonated.

The sky turned black with the force of the blast and even the overlapping shields of the mages were strained to their absolute limit, cracking to near uselessness before the explosion faded away. Gray groaned as he dropped the dome, his magic nearly totally depleted. Cana jumped up from behind him and pulled him up, her own magic having been useless for defensive purposes. When the two looked around to check on their friends, the first thing their eyes fell upon was a crater that occupied the spot that Fairy Tail used to reside.

"Holy shit…" Cana mumbled out. Gray couldn't even vocalize his feelings, he merely stared at the dark scar in the ground with empty eyes. Cana had no such trouble.

"THAT BASTARD! I'M GOING TO TEAR HIM APART FOR THAT! ALL OF US, LET'S GET IN THERE AND KICK HIS ASS!"

"Oh I don't know about that." A voice sounded out from behind her. The remaining Fairies turned to see a drawbridge extending across the water with two dozen mages waiting patiently at the end. They smirked confidently at the rattled defenders, the last batch of fresh fighters left in the conflict. Outnumbered, outgunned, tired to the bone, and unwilling to back down, Fairy Tail rallied itself for the next round.

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"There we are. The Master has been defeated, his home annihilated, the defenders too weak to carry on, and the last true threat is about to learn his place in the pecking order. This feels right." Jose congratulated himself, nodding happily.

At his feet, Goku trembled as he tried to force himself back up to his feet. The explosion outside had caught him off guard and he had almost instinctively looked out the window to try and identify the cause. Jose had moved before he could react, burying a shadow charged fist straight into Goku's chest. Rather than engulf him in it once more, Jose had injected the magic straight inside of Goku's body. Now his inners felt like they were on fire and he could barely get his limbs to respond. The dark energy was overloading his nerves, stopping signals from his brain. No matter how much he strained, his body would not obey his commands.

"Well then Fairy? Have you realized how futile your struggles are? Are you ready to give in to the darkness?" Goku growled in response, gnashing his teeth together helplessly. Jose smiled down at him.

"I'll take that as a yes." A shadow twisted into the shape of a spear in midair, pointed straight at the martial artists back.

"SOLID SCRIPT: RADIENCE!" Jose blurred out of the way the second the cry reached his ears and the attack sailed uselessly across the room. Levy cursed under her breath before turning to her partners.

"Try and slow him down for me!" Jet nodded and shot forward, his fist cocked back and a smirk on his face. Droy wiped some sweat off his brow before putting his hands together, trying to dredge up the last few drops of magic he had left. In the fraction of second he had to react to the first attack, Jose grinned.

He caught the speedster's punch straight on and tossed the man to the side with a simple flourish. Then brought both hands up and flicked his fingers. Droy and Levy were sent flying backwards into the wall with enough force to shake the stone before they slid to the ground unconscious. Jet was back on his feet in a flash, blitzing straight at Jose and lashing out with wild abandon. Jose almost perfectly matched his speed, blocking or dodging each blow. Jet quickly found himself off balance, having never had to fight continuously at top speed against someone who could match him before. Then with another flick of the finger it was over and Jet landed in a heap on top of his friends.

Jose sighed to himself and turned back to Goku. The brief skirmish had been enough to throw off his control of the magic infecting the fighter and now he was forcing himself up to his full height. Jose met his gaze dead on and brought his fingers up once more.

Then a bottle shattered on the back of his head. The Master of Phantom Lord screeched in pain as his head caught fire and he tumbled to the ground. The man rolled around blindly, trying to wrap shadows around his own head to smother the flames. Elfman jumped in at the opportunity, taking on the monstrous form of the Beast once more. He lifted Jose straight off the ground and tossed him into the air right into the center of an earthshaking clap. The mage fell limply to the ground and Elfman brought his arms up for another attack. Still prone, Jose flared his magic and the shadow of a support pillar shot out and wrapped itself around the Beast's neck. Rather than struggle, Elfman immediately shifted his form, shrinking down from the size of the Beast to a size just barely larger than his own. The power of the Beast still coursed through him though, as Jose tried to redirect the pillar's shadow Elfman lifted up the pillar itself and launched it at the dark mage like a javelin. Jose rolled out of the way and fired off a beam of deep purple energy. Elfman was caught straight in the gut and sent hurtling backwards across the room. When the dust cleared the teen was lying on the ground in his own body once more.

Jose turned to Mirajane next and despite the situation, Mirajane couldn't help but to let out a little laugh. Her bottle had burned off almost all of Jose's hair, leaving him patchy and burned.

Jose laughed, when he blasted her through the nearest wall.

"HYAAAAH!" The Master of Phantom Lord turned to see Goku on his feet once more, his white aura crackling around him.

"Is the yelling really necessary to power yourself up? Most of us just throw a quick seal into the air. Are you so stupid that you cannot form the seals at all and just get by yelling like a barbarian?"

"DESTRUCTO DISK!" Jose tracked the spinning razor blade of energy carefully, he had seen how easily it had torn up his castle before. As the projectile approached he flicked his finger straight up and a single shadow erupted from the ground, spearing the disk straight through the center. The attack fell apart, shattering into small glowing fragments that quickly faded.

Jose's confident grin faltered slightly when he looked past the vanquished attack. Goku was standing in the middle of over a dozen spheres of energy orbiting around him like moons. Thrusting both hands towards the dark master he sent the ki blasts flying. Jose flicked his finger once again and the shadow spear broke apart, separating into hundreds of strands like a spider web. They pierced straight through Goku's explosives and kept going right for the martial artist. Goku sank back and cupped his hands together as they approached.

"Ka…me…ha…me…HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The web burned away inside the intense blue beam and Jose was barely able to create another shield in time to try and block the attack. Once more Goku's strongest technique strained against the attack but the shadows were holding, only cracking under the assault but never breaking. Jose smirked from behind his shield and prepared to finish this when a fist broke through the strands and square into his jaw.

The moment Goku had fired his beam he had launched himself forward at top speed, straight down the center of his own attack. With his own energy coursing around him, he punched straight through the weakened barrier. As Jose stumbled back Goku pushed past the remains of the barrier and launched himself at the dark mage. Jose fired blindly as he attempted to reorient himself, blinking tears from his eyes. When his vision cleared Goku was inches away from him, a ball of Ki pointed directly at his chest. Goku looked the dark mage dead on in the eye as he slammed the attack home. The detonation tore through Jose's cloak and nearly blew his chest apart, leaving a raw gaping wound.

Jose barely reacted to the attack though. With a wave of his hands his own shadow leapt up from the ground and wrapped around him, pulling the wound closed and sealing it in a matter of seconds. Then the shadow reshaped itself, forming a dark armor around the man from head to toe. Goku paused for a moment at the sudden change in appearance, examining the dark armor. Then he blitzed in with a barrage of bunches and kicks, each and every one aimed at a joint or potential weak point.

For the first few strikes Jose merely weather the blows, confident that his armor could outlast the assault. When his shoulder was nearly dislocated from a well-placed strike though, he was forced to take the initiative. His hand shot up and closed around Goku's incoming fist, stopping him cold. Goku strained against the grab, pulling and pushing wildly as he tried to break free. Jose stood unaffected by the struggling and gradually increased the pressure of his grip, dragging out a gasp of pain from his captive. Desperate, Goku charged up a giant Ki blast in his free hand and fired it point blank into the armors chest plate. Before it could land though the armor morphed, firing off tendrils that engulfed the energy sphere, capturing it in midair. Then the tendrils launched themselves forward and Goku let out a scream of pain as his own attack detonated against his gut.

As the teen's body gave out and began to collapse Jose released his grip on Goku's wrist. Instead he caught the falling boy by his spiky hair and hoisted him up to eye level.

"A nice try boy. You almost had me a few times, I never would have expected that out of someone your age. Unfortunately, you've made a critical error. You've underestimated me. You don't know the power of the darkness."

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Gray let out a massive sigh of relief when a blast of fire caught the mage he was fighting from the side. Natsu charged onto the scene dishing out fiery punches and kicks to every Phantom he encountered until he slide into position between Cana and Gray.

The pair had been the last ones standing, every other Fairy was either unconscious or completely drained, taking cover behind a small ice dome that Gray had thrown up to try and protect the wounded. They had barely managed to take out a measly third of the Phantom mages before they were overwhelmed so badly that they could no longer go on the offensive.

"About time there flame brain, what kept you?" Gray shouted out as he hurdled a lightning bolt.

"Shut it Popsicle, I was busy! That other dragon guy was no joke, I had to get Macao to give me the rest of his fire just to get over here." Cana groaned in annoyance.

"So you're running on fumes too then? Shit, just when I thought things might start turning around. Where's Happy, maybe we can get him to grab some of our fighters from the infiltrator group to help out?" Natsu shook his head at the girl as he ducked under a pair of glowing throwing knives.

"I made him turn around when I saw the guild go up. He wouldn't be safe here." The assembled Phantom mages began shouting out curses at the Fairies, angered that they would dare try to hold a normal conversation in the middle of a battle. Like a swarm of wasps they began to strike, throwing everything they could at the trio in a final push for victory. Gray chuckled quietly to himself as he threw up another icy shield in front of himself. As Cana and Natsu slide into cover beside him the girl grabbed the icy mage by the shoulder and began to shake him violently.

"Come on man, don't you dare conk out on us here!"

"I'm sorry it's just…this is the end isn't it? We're at the end of our ropes, we have literally given everything we can. We're screwed." Natsu popped out of cover for a second to return fire briefly but quickly ducked down again when a lightning bolt almost caught him in the throat. He blinked the flashes of his life out of his eyes before turning over to Gray.

"So…how much longer do you think you can hold this wall up?"

"Honestly, the thing should have broken by now. I have no idea how I'm doing this." Cana and Natsu looked at the wall and watched as the cracks began to form, as pieces began to fall away. Then they joined their shirtless friend in laughter. They laughed long and hard, deep full body chuckles as death rained around them.

"Damn, this really is it!" Cana giggled.

"Yeah! Ah well, At least we broke the stupid robot." Natsu chuckled.

"So, what do you guys say? One last charge for them to remember us by?"

"Sure, why the hell not?"

"Heck yeah! I'd get fired up to that!" With that the trio rose up, lightning, ice, and fire all flashing. The attacks mixed together as they flew, creating a rotating beam of power that tore through everything in its path, spell and person alike. A half a dozen mages were sent flying back into the ocean in the blast and the rest were forced to scatter out of the way. But the attack faded away as quickly as it came, and as one the three Fairies staggered, their power completely drained.

Before either side had a chance to recover a massive white seal erupted into existence directly between the two warring sides. Like a monster rising from the depths of hell a figure slowly floated up out of the ground. The Phantom's watched the figure cautiously but the moment the Fairies spotted him their eyes lit up. The man was covered almost head to toe in bandages and whatever clothes he had been wearing before were barely more than charred strips of cloth. However, the small tuffs of blue hair sticking out of the top of the mummy's wrappings and the collection of staffs on his back made the man's identity all too obvious.

"Mystogan!"

The man nodded to his comrades briefly before he unfurled the largest of his staffs, pointing it straight into the center of the Phantom mob.

**"SLEEP!"** The single, overpowering command swept through the ranks like an unstoppable typhoon and as one the remaining mages collapsed to the ground. Grinning madly Natsu limped over to stand beside the S-class mage.

"Man that was so cool! You took them all out at once, we won!"

"Not quite yet." Mystogan corrected quietly. "Jose still stands, Goku is struggling to match him."

"WHAT? Goku's losing? We have to get up there right now!" Natsu staggered forwards toward the shore like he was going to dive straight in before Gray managed to catch him.

"Don't even think about it man. You're in no shape to help out right now and he's a Wizard Saint. Even if we went up there we would get flattened in a couple of seconds."

"For that matter, how are you even planning on getting up there?" Cana questioned.

"…Damn it. Mystogan, you gotta get up there and help him!"

"I am unable to do so."

"ARRGH! WHY THE HECK NOT?!"

"Due to my carelessness I was caught up in a trap set by Phantom Lord. I used the last of my power to ensure that these mages would not be able to kill all of our injured. I could not reach the castle in my condition, nor would I be of any use in a prolonged battle."

"Shit! There has to be something that we can do!" Natsu groaned, desperately trying to force back an ever growing feeling of helplessness.

"I believe our best course of action is to simply wait. Help is already on the way." Cana blinked.

"Wait, who's left to come help? Did Laxus finally pull his head out of his ass?" Gildarts shook his head and pointed upward in response. The trio turned their eyes upward to witness a figure flying through the air, racing at top speed towards the castle.

"No way…" Cana breathed.

"How the hell…?" Gray murmured.

"Aw man, now I really want to get up there! I can't believe I'm going to miss this!"

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Goku coughed up a glob of blood as he dug himself out of the crater he left in the wall. He stumbled forward, barely stopping himself from face planting on the ground as he made his way back towards Jose. Jose stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest, his shadows dancing around him as he watched the bloody fighter teeter around.

Goku stopped moving halfway across the room and stood staring at the Master of Phantom Lord with dead eyes. Then, slowly he rose both arms straight up into the air. Jose quirked an eyebrow up at the movement but made no movements to attack, curious of what Goku could be attempting. The two stood still for a full minute. Then two. Once the third one had passed though Jose's curiosity had vanished and his brow was twitching in barely suppressed anger.

"Well? Are you going to do anything over there or has your brain finally shut down?" Goku made no move to respond, he merely kept up that same blank stare and kept his arms firmly up towards the sky.

"Fine then! As entertaining as this has been, consider this battle finished!" Jose brought his arm up, his fingers waving slightly to form a shadowy spear beside him pointed straight at Goku's heart. Goku made no move to defend himself, he didn't even flinch. Instead he closed his eyes and waited. Snarling in rage Jose thrust his hand forward and the sphere was sent rocketing forward. Goku heard the weapon fly, he felt its approach and he knew without a doubt that he had failed.

The spear never hit.

When Goku opened his eyes again the first thing he saw was the remains of the weapon a mere three feet away from his body. Now though it was slowly coming apart, the shadows were bleeding off of one another, twisting up into the air and vanishing. Then he saw Jose stumbling backwards, his hands flailing uselessly towards his back. He saw the glowing dagger sticking out of the back of the dark armor, sunk straight up to the hilt. And then he saw her.

Erza Scarlet stood tall in her Blackwing Armor, her eyes hard as she watched Jose tumbled to the ground. She always kept one eye on him as she circled around the room to come to a stop right beside her best friend. Life poured back into Goku's eyes and he gave her a wide grin when she reached him. Erza responded with a small, hesitant smile of her own.

"Hey there Erza! How was the hospital food?"

"Goku, it is good to see you. I'm mostly recovered, don't worry."

"You broke out the minute you could stand didn't you?"

"The second actually. I'm glad you are here, I was worried that you wouldn't come back in time."

"Of course I came back. There's no way I wouldn't show up when my friend needed me."

"I know that, it's just…"

"Yeah, I know. You don't need to worry, I'm not going anywhere. Bygones and all that, alright?"

"Very well, if you are sure."

"Great! Now, you shou- Adamantine Armor!" Erza didn't question the order, the second the words left Goku's mouth she had shifted to her strongest defensive armor and created a massive shield in front of them right before a wave on shadows consumed them both. The shield barely even shook under the assault and once it faded away Jose was trembling with rage.

"How?" he murmured, his voice deathly quiet. "How can you be standing again? I struck you down with a mortal blow! Why do you pieces of trash continue to cling to me? You should be dead or dying right now!" Erza stepped confidently forward, placing herself right between the dark master and Goku.

"You can try to strike us down, but we shall only come back even more powerful than you will ever know."

"You really think you can beat me girl? Look around, this room is littered with your fellow trash, what can you possibly hope to accomplish?" Erza did just that, taking stock of the state of the room, the condition of her friends, and then she gave a grim smile.

"All of my friends appear to be okay, no permanent damage done. Your guild on the other hand, how many of them litter the floor in this room alone? Almost half of your fighters wiped out, and if I recognize the signs correctly, by a simple wave of two fingers." Erza ducked back behind her shield just in time to avoid another wave of dark energy. Smirking slightly she turned to Goku.

"I believe I have managed to divert his attention away from you for the moment. How much longer until you have finished?"

"Um…maybe five more minutes?"

"Wha…? How can you still have five minutes left?! This is a small one, I've seen you do them in less than a minute before!"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. But I'm pretty sure I'm a bit concussed right now, he threw me through a LOT of walls. I'm having a hard time focusing."

"Very well. I'll just have to buy you those five minutes then."

"You sure you can hold out that long? You aren't at 100%."

"Neither is he. Trust me to hold out and I shall trust you to finish things. Agreed?"

"You got it! Kick his ass!" Erza nodded and leapt into the air, shifting into her Heaven's Wheel Armor in mid jump. Jose tracked her and fired another volley of shadows with impeccable aim. The red head thrust both her arms to the side, summoning dozens of glowing white blades that she thrust downward in a volley of her own, crashing them against the shadows with enough force to tear straight through. Jose stood stock still as the blades approached and began to chuckle to himself when they all bounced off his black armor.

"What's the matter Titania, haven't had the chance to fully recover yet? You should have stayed away, I might not have bothered to come after you once everything was said and done. My only real target here is Makarov, everything I've done so far has been to hurt him. An up and coming warrior like yourself could have been welcomed into Phantom Lord with open arms once Fairy Tail was no more! Now though, you're going to give me no choice by to eliminate you." Jose stretched his hand out like a claw, crackling with dark purple power. With a short thrust the magic unleashed itself upwards towards the flying girl. As it traveled the magic shifted, mimicking the outstretched hand that Jose held high. Erza's eyes widened as the attack approached and quickly activated her Requip.

Jose blinked in surprise as a ball of light corkscrewed straight down around his attack to kick in dead in the face. The blow did no damage but it stunned him all the same. When he had reoriented himself Jose turned to face off against Erza's new gear. She had changed into her Flight Armor, clearly hoping that the boost in speed would overcome the gap in their power. In her hand was a glowing blue blade, humming ominously as she steadied it. With a flick of the wrist Jose created his own blade out of shadows. Black and purple energy twisted around it, constantly moving and reforming themselves. Erza charged.

A normal person would see nothing but the occasional flash of sparks in the air appearing at random intervals all around the room. Erza was pushing herself to the absolute limit right from the start, moving so quickly that even she could keep track of her own movements. She had gone completely tunnel vision, tuning out everything around her to keep all of her focus on keeping pace with the Phantom master. The blue blade hissed as it burned through the air with each swing while Jose's weapon cast new shadows around the room as it slowly began to absorb all the light. All the while Goku stood stock still, waiting.

The Fairies themselves had been drained of magic long ago. He couldn't look to them for power or else he could accidently kill them. Instead he reached out into the air around them. The atmosphere was still charged almost to the brim with the power that they had unleashed in their war, spells of every kind hung around after their visible effects had long since disappeared. So he reached out to all this lingering energy and pulled it towards himself. He found Natsu's intense flames, Gray's chilling ice. He found Cana's fortuneteller magic, the Strauss's siblings Takeover powers, even Shadowgear's Unison Raid. Each and every member of the guild that had come together to fight, he pulled their essence into himself. He molded it, compressed it, and slowly he leaked it out until a pulsing sphere the size of a watermelon floated above his outstretched hands. Then he smiled.

It was like every single member of Fairy Tail was gonna punch Jose right in the face.

"ERZA, IT'S READY!" Across the room the knight heard her friend's cry and planted her feet to exchange a lightning quick exchange of blows with the dark mage. The exchange was fierce, even with her speed augmented she was struggling to keep up. Every few seconds a new shallow cut was start dripping blood down her body and nothing she did could prevent him from striking her. More and more she was pushed back on the defensive the whole while searching for any way to get clear of the blast radius. As another thrust nicked her forehead and began bleeding over her eye Erza decided to risk everything on a single move. She shifted the left boot into the steel footwear of the Purgatory Armor and kicked Jose square between the legs. The older man let out a pained squeal as the blow landed and he froze for just a brief moment in pain. Erza leapt back screaming.

"NOW!"

"FAIRY SPIRIT BOMB!" The sphere shot across the room like a bullet, homing in on the darkness that surrounded Jose. The man saw the attack coming and forced himself to straighten, powering up the shadows forming his armor to the maximum. They never stood a chance.

` Jose let out a wail of pure agony as he was swallowed up within the sphere. The orb grew to encompass him the moment it made contact, spitting white lightning in every direction. The energy ball began to ricochet around the room with the man inside it, slamming him around while simultaneously burning away his shadows. Then the bomb launched itself straight up into the air and Jose could only wail in horror right up until it detonated.

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One of the largest forces of Rune Knights rolled into Magnolia a full three hours after the fighting had ended. Three members of the Magical Council led them across the city to find the ruins of the two guild halls. More of the Fairies had returned to their feet and were helping where they could, securing the Phantoms and patching up their friends. Goku and Erza came out to greet the officials, carrying Jose's charged body between them. The man was barely clinging onto life and a squad of Knights were quickly dispatched to get the man medical attention. Statements were taken and arrests were made, much to the Fairies pleasure. For the first time in recent memory the council had taken their side, saying that the claims of defense held up. Even more Knights soon reached the city to help speed up the process of arresting an entire guild. As the bodies that needed burial were hauled away more than a few hateful glances were sent Goku's way but the warrior took it all stoically. He did what he had to do.

Jose's castle took several hours to remove, the Knights needed time to repair the massive robot's legs before it could be walked off the premise. Many mages under the Council's payroll were ecstatic by the seizure. Many were practically foaming at the mouth to the thoughts of discovering the secrets of the massive weapons stashed aboard the craft. Unfortunately for them, it would be months before they realized that the plans for Jupiter were nowhere to be found.

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"So I guess the question is; who's in charge?" Mirajane asked. They had finally gotten the diagnosis for Makarov. It would likely take an entire month before he would be able to recover enough to resume his duties as the Master of Fairy Tail. So now the defenders had gathered at the remains of their former hall to discuss the future.

Needless to say, Laxus would have been barred entry if he had shown up.

"I think our choice is pretty obvious." Cana remarked. "We need someone who is good enough with numbers to get the plans for the new building off the ground, someone who has enough force behind them to make sure the knuckleheads actually listen, and someone who isn't so scary that nobody's going to want to work with us until Master is back on his feet. That would be you." Mirajane blinked.

"What? But I…how can I be the Master?" She sputtered.

"You don't need to be the Master, you just need to be a good leader. We don't need you to fight or anything, just keep things in order until we have things sorted out."

"But…are you sure that everyone will listen to me?"

"Are you kidding? You helped take down an S class mage with like a tenth of your power, you know when to be nice and when to be mean, and best of all you know how to make sure the bar stays full stocked! What else could we possibly need?" The roar of support was deafening.

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It was well after midnight when Erza finally managed to track Goku down. He had apparently managed to dig out his weighted gear from the castle before the Rune Knights had taken it away and was now doing one finger pushups by edge of the forest. She stood and waited patiently for him to finish his rep. Only the slightest twitch of her hands marked how nervous she really was. When Goku finally hoped back up to his feet she started forward a bit faster than she would have liked.

"Goku, may I talk to you?"

"Hmm? Oh, hey Erza. What's up?"

"Umm, I…well. I just wanted…I wanted to tell you…" Goku blinked in surprise as Erza's face slowly turned to match her hair. In her mind Erza was cursing herself for allowing herself to become so nervous. Finally she just blurted out the first thing that popped into her head.

"You may strike me if you wish!" Goku cocked his head in confusion.

"Didn't we agree that you wouldn't say that to me again after that time I accidently knocked you into a beehive? Natsu wouldn't stop laughing at us no matter how many times you hit him.

"I deserve it though. I know that you said bygones in the castle but that was merely the heat of the moment. You know as well as I that I have done you serious wrong over the years."

"I'm not going to hit you unless you're planning on making a match out of it. I told you already that I forgave you. I know that you had a good reason for what you did, Grandpa Gohan knew what he was talking about. It would have been really bad if I had my tail at some point when the moon came up if none of us knew about it. You wouldn't have done anything unless you believed it would help. I just need some time to cool off, that's all."

"…You really trust far too easily Goku."

"Maybe you just don't trust enough. You could have told me what Grandpa said and I would have believed you. It could have saved a lot of trouble."

"You're right. I just…I wasn't sure what would happen."

"Well, if you're really sorry then maybe you can take a chance. I know you keep a lot of stuff bottled up Erza, maybe you should consider trusting me and everyone else at the guild some more. You don't need to face all of your demons alone." Erza nodded and bade Goku a quiet goodnight before walking off back towards Fairy Hills. She wanted to trust the guild, she wanted to trust him. She really did. But could she? How would they react when they realized that the strong warrior that so many looked up to was just the shell of a scared little girl still reeling from the destruction of her home and family more than a decade ago. How would they react once they learned of her time as a slave and how she chose to flee rather than confront her fears and try to save everyone? Would they still look up to her then? Would they even like her anymore?

If she was the kind of person who would flee and abandon her friends, did she even deserve their trust to begin with?

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

THE THREAT HAS PASSED AND A NEW ONE LOOMS ON THE HORIZON…but not just yet. A bit of harmless fun between the big battles as Lucy tries to uncover what is wrong with her spirit Plue.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: THE STAR THAT FELL FROM HEAVEN


	26. The Star that Fell from Heaven

Just a heads up, I have made a poll on my profile. You guys have been begging me to unveil who Goku ends up with, now you can decide amongst yourselves.

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Hello readers,

It's Sturm and Drang and this time I wrote this whole chapter, it started as another omake but it snowballed into a whole chapter:

Chapter 25: The Star that Fell from Heaven.

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**Chapter 25: THE STAR THAT FELL FROM HEAVEN **

"Remind me what we're doing again Lu?" Cana laughed, drinking from a hip flask while she sauntered alongside her summoner friend.

"I told you." Lucy groaned. "We're looking for Plue. You know, my spirit?"

"And Plue is… the crab guy right?"

"No! He's the dog!"

"…Dog?" Cana's face was the perfect picture of incomprehension.

"You know: white, cute, has an orange nose?"

"That thing's supposed to be a dog? I thought it was a snowman."

"That's… fair, actually. But still, he's missing and you agreed to help me look for him." Lucy huffed.

"That's another thing though. How the hell do you lose one of your spirits? Aren't they like… linked to you when you make a contact with them? Can't you just dismiss them and resummon them where you are or something?"

"Normally I would be able to yes. But I've tried and this time it isn't working."

"Have you considered keeping him on a leash?

"Cana," Lucy gave the card mage a distinctly unimpressed look. "We are talking about a celestial being, one that was ancient long before humans ever entered the picture. You can't just put him on a leash. It's disrespectful."

"… We're still talking about the tiny bipedal dog with a carrot for a nose, right?"

"Plue is not a pet, he is a friend and a partner. Would you put a leash on your friends?"

"Hmmm… you got to admit, Natsu could probably use one."

"How about any of your friends who wouldn't set a town on fire just because someone made fun of their hair? You wouldn't want to put a leash on me, would you?"

Cana paused, tilting her head and staring at the summoner.

"Cana."

"Well it would keep you from running off or getting kidnapped again. And I do like the idea of keeping you where I can see you."

"Cana no."

"Plus I think you'd look pretty hot with a leash."

"CANA!" Lucy yelped, her face flushing as the card mage cackled.

"But seriously though," said Cana, once her giggling had begun to die down, "Why exactly is this such a big deal?"

"The main thing that's bothering me is that he's summoned himself through my contract without my intervention; he shouldn't be able to do that. Maybe a few of the gold keys could, but not him. He's only a silver key. Then there's the question of why?" Lucy moaned, pulling at her hair in frustration. This was actually the second time this had happened. She'd felt Plue appear in the middle of the day yesterday, but he'd returned to the spirit word within a few minutes. She'd been pretty sure she had just imagined it.

When you're the gateway for celestial beings between this world and another, you sometimes get weird random feelings about the fluctuations of celestial energies beyond your comprehension. It's normal.

But then it had happened again this morning. It had been hours since the gate opened and she needed to find out why it was happening, how it was happening, and possibly how angry she should be over the violation of her contract.

Okay no, she knew she couldn't stay mad at Plue, he was too adorable for that. She'd met marshmallows that were more malicious. But she at least wanted to figure out what was wrong.

"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out. But we've searching for like an hour and found jack squat…wanna hit up the bars?"

Lucy sighed and shot her partner the flattest look she could. Cana just grinned.

"You know what? Fine."

"Great!" Cana grabbed her and dragged her off into a nearby building. At least this one looked like it would have drinks besides booze. Cana ordered herself a full mug of beer and was about to do the same for Lucy, but the summoner was able to intervene and order a glass of lemonade instead. She loved lemonade, it was like an explosion of sour and sweetness on her tongue. Added bonus, she wouldn't end up waking up in the guildhall in the morning with a splitting headache and a poorly drawn mustache on her face.

Alas, the ever-delightful wit of the people she called her friends.

"So…" Cana began, sipping her booze with a grin. "Got any ideas to track down your carrot-nosed dog?"

"Well… no." Lucy whined, placing her head against the table. Luckily the bartender had given her a really long bendy straw so she could still suck down her drink even while she was sulking.

"Well clearly it is, once again, up to me to save the day. Never fear my sweet and most helpless princess. Your brilliant and beautiful knight will save the day." Cana declared.

Lucy raised a brow.

"No seriously, let me see the little guy's key. I got an idea."

Lucy shrugged, handing over the key. Cana pulled out a pack of cards and started flicking through them. She pulled one out and placed it against the table, revealing a picture of a fancy compass.

"Behold! The Compass!" Cana declared, beaming down at Lucy and raising her hands in the air.

"…and?"

"The Compass is a card that guides those who are lost. If we sync it with your key, it might just point towards Plue." Cana explained, placing the key on top of the card and flicking it, causing it to spin wildly as the card began to glow faintly.

"Are you sure this would work?"

"I don't know, it might."

"That inspires confidence." Lucy muttered.

"Dang Lu, you're just smiles and sunshine today aren't you?" Cana frowned, staring at Lucy.

"…Sorry. It's just, spirits don't violate contracts unless something's wrong. I like to think of myself as a good summoner, but-"

"Hey." Cana interrupted, laying her hand on top of Lucy's. "Don't sweat it Lu, you're a great summoner. We'll find your little dog guy, figure out what's wrong, and fix it. No problem." The key came to a sudden stop, quivering as it pointed out the window. "And there we go."

"You're sure this is pointing to Plue?"

"Either him or north. Let's find out." Cana threw some jewels on the table, grabbed Lucy and dragged her away.

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The pointing key led them on quite a twisting journey. Since neither of them could actually fly they had to take dozens of detours around buildings, the key spinning resolutely whenever they took a turn.

Eventually they left the main streets and entered a city park; It was oddly empty considering it was midday and the trees were providing a cool relief to the sun's rays.

"Hey!" said Lucy as they turned another corner. "There he is!" Lucy could see the spirit sitting on a picnic table. There was a man sitting at the table as well, shoulder's hunched, with his back to them.

"Wait." Cana blinked. "I think that's Loke. I didn't recognize him for a moment without his harem of girls."

"What's he doing with Plue?"

"No idea, let's ask. HEY LO-" Lucy slapped her hand over the card mage's mouth, yanking her back behind the corner before Loke could notice.

"Mmmfgh?" Cana asked, raising a brow at Lucy.

"Sorry, it's just, don't you think this is incredibly suspicious? What the heck is Loke doing with my spirit? I'm positive he's not a summoner." Lucy stuck her head back around the corner spying on the strange pair. Plue was waving his arms wildly in the air at Loke. While the mage in question just had his shoulders hunched. "Is Loke talking to Plue? I wish we could hear what he was saying."

"Do my ears deceive me Lu?" Cana asked, smirking as she pulled Lucy's hand off her mouth. "Are you suggesting we eavesdrop on a fellow guild member's private conversation?"

"No! It's not like that-"

"Calm down, I never said I was against it." Cana smiled, holding up a card with a picture of a faceless figure with their ear pressed to a door. "Behold, The Gossip. I use this one all the time when I'm bored." Cana held the card around the corner, it started glowing faintly and suddenly they could hear Loke's voice as though he was standing right next to them.

_"Listen, Nikora. You can't just come out on your own like this, what will your summoner think?"_

_ "Poon."_

_ "Of course she's going to notice. It would be a very poor summoner who didn't, and Lucy is anything but a poor summoner."_

_ "Poon."_

_ "I, look, why are you even here? What are you hoping to accomplish?"_

_ "Poon."_

_ "You know as well as I do that nothing can be done. The verdict was final."_

_ "Poon."_

_ "…There is no appeal. And even if there was I wouldn't want one."_

_ "Poo-"_

_ "No. Go home."_

_ "…"_

_ "So this is what this feels like from the other end. Fine stay here, you won't be able to stay long on your own anyway. I'm leaving."_

There was a sound of footsteps and then silence.

_"…poon."_

Levy peeked around the corner again, Loke was nowhere in sight and Plue was alone, sitting on the table and staring at his little feet. Lucy immediately jogged over, uncaring of the fact that Loke might still be within earshot.

"Plue!"

"Poon." The spirit looked up and got to his feet, smiling at her and holding his stubby arms out to the summoner. Lucy cooed and swept him up, hugging him tightly.

"Are you okay Plue?"

"Poon." The spirit nodded.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Poon." The spirit shook his head.

"What were you doing with Loke?"

"…Poon." The spirit did a complicated dance that could have meant absolutely anything.

"Right, I should have seen that one coming. Please don't disappear like that again, you had me worried." He still did actually, he looked exhausted. Some spirits could summon themselves to the material world under their own power but never for very long. Plue was a silver spirit so he didn't have much energy to spare and he'd been in the world for _hours._

The spirit frowned, before reaching up and patting Lucy's face. With a final quiet poon and burst of starlight, the spirit disappeared.

"So…" Cana began. "Now what?"

"I'm not sure…" Lucy muttered staring off into in the direction Loke had probably gone.

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_The next day._

The girls were back in the bar again. They were getting lunch, well, Lucy was. Cana was having her afternoon drink.

"Lu, if you keep glaring at him like that your face is going to stick like that. It's not a good look for you."

"I can't help it. Just look at him." Loke was sitting at a far table, his horde of girls unusually absent. He looked contemplative, merely picking at the food on his plate with no real drive. "Something's up between my spirits and him, and I want to know what."

"I'm telling you," Cana laid a hand on her shoulder. "Let's just go ask him. I've never known Loke to refuse a pretty girl anything, well, except marriage, but that doesn't count. Not with how many times he gets asked."

"But-"

"No buts. You're overthinking this. Let's just go see him." Cana grabbed Lucy and dragged away from the bar.

"Look, can you stop dragging me around?" Lucy whined. "I have legs of my own. They're awesome and function perfectly."

"Whatever you say Lu." Cana replied, Loke looked up when they got close, a tired frown wiping off his face to be replaced with an equally tired smile.

"Why hello there Cana, you are looking especially fine today. As are you-urk!" Loke blanched when he noticed Lucy. He then made a valiant attempt to duck underneath the table and run away at the same time, while trying not to look like he was doing either. Instead he slammed his side into the table with a painful thud that sent him sprawling. Before either of the girls could react, he was back on his feet and hobbling away.

"Well it was nice talking to you two. But I'm afraid I just remembered I have a date to get to. I'd love to stay and chat but the lady in question is very impatient and I'd hate to keep her waiting." He called back.

The girls blinked, staring at the retreating mage.

"Damn Lu, what did you do to him?"

"Excuse me?" Lucy squawked.

"I've never seen the guy willingly walk away from a pretty girl, let alone two drop-dead knockouts like us."

"I've literally never spoken to him since that time we first met!"

"If you say so."

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_One week later_

Lucy sighed; pressing her face flat against the bar. Idly listening to Goku chat to Levy about some new technique he'd developed, she tried to focus on her own problem

Something was wrong with one of her spirits. She didn't know what, she didn't know if it was fixed or not. All she knew was that whatever it was; it involved Loke. She knew she could figure this out; she was just missing some key detail. But try as she might she couldn't corner Loke long enough to get him to talk to her. She had a whip, maybe if she tied him up and-

"Hey!" A voice interrupted her musings; she glanced up to see Gray looking more disheveled than usual.

"Something wrong Gray?" Cana asked, nursing her tankard as per usual.

"You bet there's something wrong. Loke's quit Fairy Tail!"

That got everyone's attention in a hurry.

"What!" Natsu roared, "He can't quit! You can't quit Fairy Tail! It's not allowed."

"It's not?" Goku asked, looking up from his sandwich.

"That's like saying he doesn't want to be our friend anymore!" Natsu roared, his hair igniting as he slammed his fists against the table. "Come on Happy. Let's go find him and beat some friendship back into him!"

"Aye!"

They watched Natsu storm off with Gray close on his heels.

"But why would Loke just leave?" Levy was looking at Cana in askance. The card mage shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe Lu scared him off."

"Really? What did she do to him?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lucy squawked. "This isn't my fault!"

"I was kidding Lu. Just trying to lighten the tension. But seriously," Cana frowned. "I don't know why Loke would just… leave. It's not like him. It's not like the guild was some girl he was dating."

"Well maybe it has something to do with Loke not being human." Goku commented, taking another bite out of his sandwich.

"Maybe…" Lucy sighed. Then paused.

As one, the Fairies turned to look at Goku. The martial artist felt everyone's eyes on him and paused mid-bite.

"…What?"

"Goku…" Levy said, speaking slowly as if to make sure she wouldn't be misunderstood. "Could you elaborate on that statement?"

"What? About Loke not being human? Did uh, did none of you know?" he asked blinking each of them in turn.

"No! Why would you even say he isn't?"

"Um… because he's not? At least, he doesn't feel human."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know how I can sense energy? His magic doesn't feel human. It's not obvious, not at first. But when I sense his magic right next to everyone else's, it's kind of hard not to notice." Goku explained, looking utterly bemused by their surprise.

"And it never occurred to you to mention this?" Cana demanded. "It sounds like the kind of thing we might want to talk about."

"Well no. I mean, I'm not human and we never really talk about that."

"Goku…" Levy sighed.

"Not human." Lucy mumbled, lost in thought. The hamster in her brain starting to work double-time to line up the facts: Loke avoided her, the only thing that was unique about her, as far as she could tell, was being a celestial summoner. He was acquainted with celestial spirits in such a way that that her spirits would seek him out. He wasn't human…

Oh. No way.

"Goku can you help me find Loke?"

"Uh, probably. Why?

"I'll explain when we find him."

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"Are we close?" Lucy demanded. At the moment, Lucy and Goku were sitting on nimbus, zooming away from Magnolia.

"Should be. He's gotten pretty far away, but Nimbus will get us there." Fields of grass and trees zipped past beneath them, giving way to another town. As they passed above the buildings, Goku directed his magic cloud downward. Stopping in the middle of a stone path that jutted out past a waterfall. Lucy could see their quarry at the end of the path, standing before what looked like a ludicrously fancy tombstone.

"Loke!"

The figure jerked, half turning as they approached. He looked pretty tired. "Oh. It's you two. What's up guys?"

Okay, forget tired. Lucy had never seen someone who looked so exhausted. Loke looked like he had literally been carrying the weight of the world on his back and had finally put it down, but still couldn't bring himself to sleep.

"What's up with us? What's up with you? You know you can't just quit Fairy Tail, Loke."

"Loke of Fairy Tail" Loke mused, shaking his head weakly. "Someone who never really existed."

"You're a celestial spirit. Aren't you Loke?" Lucy asked quietly.

Loke nodded.

"Huh," Goku said. "Neat."

"But what are you doing?" Lucy demanded. "Where's your summoner?"

Loke sighed once more, pulling off his shades and looking at them with eyes that were very nearly done with the world.

And told them.

He told them a tale of two spirits: The Lion and The Ram. He told them of promises made and promises broken. He told them of lines drawn in the sand, of a clash of wills between spirit and summoner. He told them of forgiveness that came too late and of the star that was cast from the heavens.

"Which brings us here." Loke finished. "I've lasted far longer than anyone could have expected. But it's almost over."

"And that's it?" Lucy demanded, "You're just going to die?"

"There is nothing left for me to say."

"Don't worry, I've got plenty. For starters, your punishment was a load of crap."

"What?"

"You didn't kill Karen. She got herself killed."

"If I hadn't been blocking her summons-"

"You were, but she could have easily fixed that by agreeing to your terms. It was literally that simple. She refused, went on a dangerous mission when she was powerless and died. That's her fault, not yours."

"…"

"I agree." Goku commented. "You didn't kill her."

"And what would you know about it?" Loke snapped.

"I killed my grandfather."

Loke's eyes snapped to him, some of the exhaustion in him leaving as he gaped.

"I didn't mean to. For years I thought a wandering monster killed him. It was actually a week ago that I found out it had actually been me. I transformed into a monster under the full moon and beat him into pulp. When I woke up, he was literally flattened inside of a giant footprint." Goku sighed, closing his eyes.

"Want to know what's worse?" Goku asked, opening his eyes and staring Loke dead in the eye. The spirit was motionless, unable to look away as Goku continued. "He let me do it. He tried to stop me from going on a rampage and he could have done it. My grandpa was the strongest fighter in the world. If he had really tried, he could have killed me. But he didn't. He chose to die rather than hurt me."

Goku took a step forward.

"I met grandpa's ghost you know." Goku whispered, "He never even hinted at how he really died. He didn't want me to know, because he forgave me. He knew I would never have hurt him on purpose. And I'm going to make sure that I never let anything like that happen again, to do anything less would be an insult to his memory." Goku reached out and put his hands on Loke's shoulders, and gave smile. It looked brittle.

"So… don't talk to me about how you killed Karen. I know what it means to kill someone by accident, and you didn't. She killed herself. It's not your fault."

Loke stared the martial artist in the eye until the spirit was forced to away.

"Even," Loke gulped. "Even if that's true… The simple fact is that it doesn't matter. I can't return to the spirit world."

"Oh we'll see about that." Lucy stomped forward, shoving Goku aside and grabbing onto Loke.

"Lucy! W-what are you doing."

"I'm embracing what it means to be a Fairy Tail mage: If it's not working, force it! You're barred from the spirit world. Who cares, I'll ripe it open and send you back. If anyone over there objects, you send them to talk with us."

Loke's face paled as Lucy's magic gathered around them.

"**Open: Gate of the Lion!**" starlight burst into existence around them, whipping through the air like electricity.

"Lucy stop! You don't know what you're doing."

"**Open: Gate of the Lion!" **A second surge whipped through the air around them.

"It's too late Lucy! You're more likely to throw yourself into the spirit world than me! Stop trying to change the law!

"The law is wrong! **Open: Gate of the Lion!**"

Suddenly, everything jolted. Lucy paused looking around. Something felt different. With a thundering boom, the water all around them surged into the air, gathering in an enormous whirlpool.

What little color Loke's face had left drained away.

"N-no." he muttered. "NO! SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

With a flash of light, an enormous figure appeared in the middle of the water basin. White and yellow armor, shrouded in a cape of starry skies loomed over them. From its face a pair of burning stars stared down on them.

"Your majesty." Loke whispered, bowing his head.

_Hello old friend. It has been three years since I saw you last. Since you broke celestial law._

"I-I know. You know I have accepted your judgment." Loke stammered, head bowed.

"Well I haven't!"

"Lucy! Stop!"

_Human girl. You are aware of the celestial laws. My old friend played a part in the death of his summoner. He faces justice for his crime._

"He's been stuck in the human realm for three years! Every day he's had to feel himself wither away.

_I have already declared my judgment. My old friend knows what he has done._

"He didn't kill Karen! She killed herself with her own stubbornness and pride. And now? Loke's dying; it's not him that's doing it. It's you. You're being stubborn and, unlike Karen, someone else, your old friend, is paying the price."

"Lucy you really…. Shouldn't speak to him like that." Loke protested weakly.

_Why do you fight so hard for his sake? _The Spirit King asked; a single brow raised in askance.

"I had to watch my friends put their life on the lines for my sake. I was forced to watch them bleed for my sake over and over again. I swore I would not let that happen again without giving my all to change it. So know what? Forget you! Why don't you go back home and tell Aries why you are going to let Loke die? While you do that, I'm going to send Loke home, regardless of what you have to say!" Lucy grabbed Loke once more, pooling all of her remaining magic, she shoved it into the spirit with one final scream.

"**Open: Gate of the Lion!"**

Loke felt something lurch, as though a door within him had cracked open. He felt a soothing wave of energy flow through him, easing his aching body in a way he thought he would never feel again.

Home.

Loke couldn't believe it, Lucy was actually forcing open a gate closed by the king himself. He… he didn't know what to think.

Lucy gasped, her magical energy running out as she collapsed. Loke grabbed her before she could hit the ground even as he felt the door within him slam shut.

"N-no." Lucy whispered. Reaching towards Loke's face, "I… I can do it." Loke felt his heart wrench at the sight. "Just-"

_ Enough._

Loke's eyes snapped to the king.

_My old friend, I have known you since your star first lit the heavens. I admit it pains me to see you reduced to this state. To see someone, a human girl who has never known you, to fight so hard to save you from what I am doing to you; it makes me question myself. Question my law._

Loke gaped.

_Yes. I hereby grant you reprieve from the punishment. An exception to my law. My old friend, your star shall shine on yet._

"But-"

_If you still seek penance, then so be it. I declare that you must serve that human girl you hold, from now until she departs this mortal realm. So I have spoken, so it shall be._

With a flash of light the king of spirits disappeared.

Loke could feel the king's decree flowing through him. He felt the door within him open once more. Not forced, but softly, beckoning him home. Loke blinked back the sudden wetness in his eyes, as he stared at the girl in his arms. She smiled weakly back at him.

"Well what are you waiting for? I'll see you again soon."

"Thank you." Loke murmured, setting the girl gently on the ground, he nodded towards Goku, and stepped through the door.

And thus, the star returned to the heavens once more.

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And there we go, a whole special chapter done, and a long one at that. In truth this one wasn't really necessary. The difference in the circumstances of Lucy's getting Loke's key in this story and canon were kind of minor, but I decided to add Goku and write it a bit differently to keep it interesting.

I feel this serves a couple purposes:

First, we've kind of been ignoring Lucy, sending her off to go engage in shenanigans with Cana while Focusing on Goku, Erza, Levy, and the rest. Because Of that, I wanted to try to capture their friend dynamic. Let me know if you think I did a good job on that.

Secondly, it gave me the chance to write a scene with Plue saying "Poon" a lot and Loke being all "Don't you poon at me like that." That was my muse for this. That was literally it. I'm a comedy driven person. Let me know if any of my meager efforts made you laugh. Or giggle. Or just snort. As long as it amused you.

Then it got heavy towards the end, Goku may be a pretty easygoing guy, but I refuse to accept that he would find out that he killed his father figure and not have it be a sore subject for him. The situation sort of paralleled Loke's in a way. So does Elfman's actually, but I didn't feel the need to write him into this.

Also Heroman put Lucy through some pretty traumatic stuff in the phantom arc, like wow. I was surprised how dark he made it. So we see some of her anger over that in how she lashes out at the spirit king.

That's about all I have to say. Read and Review if you want and stuff.

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So, I uploaded this chapter early. Why you may ask? I got bored. That's it. I had nothing to do today, saw this sitting on my computer and decided that I may as well upload this. What do you guys think of S&amp;D's style? Interested in any more full chapters from him or should I shove him back into the corner and only let him out for edits and the occasional omake? Oh yeah, and before I forget…

DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION!

HAVING PREVENTED LOKE'S IMINENT DEATH AND SURVIVED HER KIDNAPPING ATTEMPTS, LUCY DECIDES THAT IT'S TIME FOR A VACATION FOR HER AND SOME OF HER CLOSEST FRIENDS. MEANWHILE, GOKU BEGINS HUNTING THE COASTLINE FOR CLUES LEADING TO KAGURA'S BROTHER. BUT DANGER LOOMS, BOTH VISIBLE AND WRAPPED IN SHADOWS. ERZA'S PAST FINALLY BEGINS TO CATCH UP TO HER IN CHAPTER 26: BEACHFRONT


	27. Beachfront

AN: For those of you that didn't see last chapter, there is now a poll in place for Goku's pairing. You lot seem to have divided yourselves into three distinct groups and I want to see the numbers behind each of them.

I really, really, _really _hate looking back at my old work. A recent review alerted me to some missing quotation marks so I went looking for them to try to fix that little blip. Never got far enough to find them though because I instead found several dozen little nitpicks that I just had to try and fix. I am my own worst critic, even if you guys think something is fine or good as you've all told me it is, I'm always wondering to myself how I managed to get any sort of following at all. I literally cannot look at my own stuff without trying to change it. That's why I asked my friend to beta for me all over two years ago, if left to my own devices I would never publish anything. Instead I would be constantly agonizing at each and every little sentence I produce. Even when I look over the corrections that S&amp;D makes, I'm ONLY looking at his corrections. I spent an hour earlier touching up Chapter 1 and once again I'm still not completely satisfied with it. Goddammit…

**Chapter 26: Beachfront**

**Alternate Title, Shiptease: The Chapter**

_**Three Weeks after the end of the Phantom-Fairy War…**_

Erza Scarlet never knew her parents. The old woman who ran the Rosemary Village Orphanage never told her anything about them, not even their family name. It had made her a bit of an outcast, at least in her own mind. Back then she had thought that would be the absolute pinnacle of all her problems, being the only person in the entire town without a family name. Now, looking back at herself and her concerns, Erza wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh, cry, or just strangle her younger self to avoid having to live through her imprisonment altogether.

The day that the slavers came was the second worst day of her life. Ironically, it is also the day that she developed her hero complex that would shape her every move for the next decade. She had never told any of the other prisoners, not even Jellal, that she could have escaped that day. It would have been simple, she had already been completely out of sight in a small alleyway and the small crate beside her was the perfect size for a small child. They would never have known that she was there. But then she had seen the little girl.

She looked barely four years old and her eyes were bloodshot from her desperate attempts to hold back her sobs. The girl looked so utterly lost and hopeless that something awoke inside of Erza. She had to help the little girl. There was no logic behind it, no reason beside the fact that she felt that it was the right thing to do. So she had ran out and grabbed the small child and practically dragged her along behind her back to the box. Presented with the choice of her own life or the life of another, she chose to rescue the tiny, wide eyed girl with the white ribbon in her hair.

That thought was the only thing that kept her going when the slavers marched her and the other prisoners past the corpses of those that resisted.

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Erza was pulled from her thoughts by an energetic knock on her door. She didn't even have enough time to rise out of her chair before Cana burst into the room with a tankard in one hand a slip of paper in the other.

"Erza! The greatest thing ever just happened!"

"The Master has woken up?!"

"Uh…the second greatest thing ever has just happened? Look what Lucy got for us!" With an eyebrow raised Erza slowly extended her hand and plucked the slip from Cana's fingers.

"... A resort?"

"Yeah! Apparently Loke had some passes for a couple of gal pals lying around but that's he's allowed back in the Spirit World he's taking an otherworldly sabbatical. Which of course means one thing!"

"…?"

"Vacation. The answer you're looking for is vacation. More specifically, a _girls only_ vacation."

Erza raised an eyebrow.

"Think about it, massages, swimming pools, gambling, fine food, and ALCOHOL! And all of it without any of our daily doses of idiocy! No stripping ice cube, no overly manly macho man, no hotheaded moron, and no battle hungry monkey man-child! A real vacation from all the craziness that we have to put up with all the time!" Cana pressed her hands to her cheeks and closed her eyes, contentment radiating off her at the thought of such a paradise.

"Is this truly the best time for us all to leave Cana? There is still so much work to do around here right now-"

Cana hand whipped out and covered Erza's mouth.

"No. Absolutely not, I'm not about to let you try to talk yourself, or more importantly ME, out of doing this. We are going! Mira has more than enough people around here to help finish up the last few days' worth of rebuilding and the guild can survive for a week without us! You especially need a break! You've only left your room to help with construction and have barely talked with anyone since Jose got arrested! Seriously, what's up with that?!"

"I didn't realize that I had done anything to warrant concern, my apologies. I have merely just had a lot on my mind lately. Goku and I had a discussion a few weeks ago that has given me a lot to think about."

"…Oh my god the rumors are actually true. Did you two seriously hook up?"

"What? No, noth-"

"I suppose it kinda makes sense in a way, you two have been practically been inseparable since you got here…"

"Nothing hap-

"But still, between your massive chip in your shoulder and Goku's...Goku-ness I didn't really think there was any sort of chance that it could actually happen!"

"Cana I'm trying to tell you-"

"I mean, I was sorta expecting Goku and Levy to hook up, the whole brain and brawn combo right? She taught him reading and writing and stuff like that, he taught her how to not suck quite as much at fighting…"

"There is nothing going on between-"

"Aw man! This means that I lost the betting pool! I had Goku and Levy and then you with some village girl."

"WHAT?!"

"I thought it made so much sense, you just kinda give off that vibe, you know? I figure, big tough gal like you and then some little delicate wallflower out there that you met over a shared love of strawberry cake. It was perfect! Damn it, I don't want to owe Mira money-"

CLANG!

Cana looked up from the ground with stars in her eyes at the shiny metal gauntlet hovering dangerously over her face.

"As of this moment there is nothing going on between Goku and myself. If something should ever occur between the two of us then it will between us and nobody else's business. Now, you are going to give me the names of everyone who took part in this pool about my love life, and then I am going to confiscate each and every jewel that they spent on it. Afterwards, you will never speak of this in my presence again. Is that clear?"

"Yeah, got it." Cana croaked out with a weak nod. "But what about the resort?"

"Hm. I think you might be right, I could use a vacation."

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Lucy, Levy, and Cana stood beside a mountain of bags at the entrance to Magnolia. Their small own small duffels over their shoulders each contained more than enough clothes and supplies for their entire week of planned vacation time, yet Erza had apparently packed enough for everyone in the entire guild.

"What do you suppose she has in there anyways?" Lucy wondered.

"Maybe she's doing some extreme weight training like Goku does all the time. She could have a handful of actually useful bags and the rest could all just be rocks." Levy theorized.

"Nah, it's gotta be all her armor. She can only put so much in her Requip space at the same time so she just lugs around the rest wherever she goes."

"Why the heck would she bother carrying that much around?" Lucy questioned.

"Caution I think." Levy said. "Think about it, her armors are pretty specialized for certain situations, if she's fighting a lightning mage, and has everything but her Lightning Empress Armor, she's still kind of sunk. I don't think I've ever seen her without a suit on since she got her first one."

"And that doesn't concern anyone at all? At the very least it's probably going to be a killer for her back in a couple of decades." Lucy mused. Cana and Levy shared incredulous glances before chuckling.

"You have met Erza right? She can toss around a dozen times her weight without breaking a sweat. I don't think any suit of armor weighs enough to actually do anything like that to her." Levy giggled.

"Yeah! If anything is going to mess up her back, it's going to be those huge knockers of hers!" Said Cana, nodding knowingly.

"Cana!" Lucy squealed, turning red.

"What? You know it's true, don't pretend you haven't snuck a peek at least once! Personally I don't know how she can bear shoving her bits in a tin can all the time." Cana shook her head, patting her own chest sympathetically. If I did that to my girls I think it would kill me!"

"Well, what about your back? You're probably just as big as she is!" Levy protested.

"Jealous?" Levy's face grew bright red and her stuttered denials were drowned out by Cana's laughter. Lucy just stood off to the side, growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute, hoping they wouldn't drag her in to this.

"Okay…so…new topic. Where is Erza anyways?" Cana paused, her face scrunched up in thought and Levy jumped at the chance to get out of the line of fire.

"She went to go let Goku's house to let him know where we are going!" She blurted out. Cana groaned in response.

"Damn it. That kind of thing doesn't really bode well for my bet."

"What bet?" Cana grinned and reached over to ruffle the smaller girl's hair.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Don't you worry your little geeky head about it! Just thinking, you should spend more time with Goku, he's probably been letting his reading studies slip."

"That's probably true, and maybe I should. But I know when I'm being misdirected, what bet? You're only making me more curious." Levy pouted.

"Wait, hold on a sec." Lucy broke in. "Goku has a house?" Two blank stares were all she received in return.

"Is she serious?" Cana stage whispered.

"I'm not sure…" Levy replied, frowning as she stared at Lucy thoughtfully. "Does she think that he lives in a tree or something?"

"Oh come on, you've seen Goku! It's not that dumb of a question! He never goes anywhere near the male dorms and I doubt he could handle financing his own place!" Lucy whined. Cana snickered quietly to herself while Levy took pity on the blonde.

"The day that Goku met Erza, he was living in this old shack that his Grandpa had built years before. He stayed there after his Grandpa died and maintained it by himself until it wound up getting destroyed by some of the slavers who were chasing her. After Goku got helped her get to Magnolia and join Fairy Tail, he actually left for a little while and came back with a huge pile of lumber on his back. He carried his old home piece by piece into the forest just outside of the city and rebuilt it exactly the way it was before it was destroyed. He even rebuilt this little shrine he had in the middle of the room to honor his Grandfather's passing."

"Wow…I'm not sure whether I'm more impressed or sad. It just doesn't seem to fit his character, you know?"

"Say what you will about him, he always has his heart in the right place." Erza said as she marched up to join the group. Cana's eyes widened slightly and she carefully took a few steps to the left, placing Levy directly between herself and the approaching knight. Levy eyed the taller girl carefully and took a single step backwards. Cana followed. Levy sighed, who knew what was going through the card mage's mind?

"So, did you find Goku then?" Lucy asked. Erza shook her head and held up a crumpled piece of paper.

"I found this strapped to his door." Levy stepped forward, leaving Cana exposed for just long enough that the brunette felt the need to slip out behind Lucy instead, and snagged the note.

**Hi! A new friend of mine has asked me a favor so I've gone down the coast to beat up a whole bunch of slavers, mercenaries, and other villainous guys. No idea when I'll be back so I'll see you eventually!**

** -Goku**

** PS. Natsu, if you and Happy break into my house again to try and find my food I'm going to tie you up and give you to Erza. **

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Levy deadpanned. "Any idea who this new friend of his is?"

"No, I don't think that he mentioned anything like that to me. Though, we've been so busy with the reconstruction that we've only had one chance to talk beyond standard greetings lately. Cana opened her mouth to interject but a sharp glare from Erza had her jaw clamp shut with an audible snap and the brunette ducked further down behind her unwitting shield. Seeing her message had been passed, Erza continued.

"But this just furthers what I was saying. True he might be a bit hardheaded and overeager to fight, but he then he does something like this. In the space of a couple of days he goes off on his own, makes a new friend, comes back to help us save the guild, and then leaves again as soon as he is patched up to help someone who is likely still barely more than a stranger. He just has a very genuine personality."

"Yeah!" Levy beamed. "Just say the word and he'd probably go take on the entirety of Fiore's army for any one of us."

"Actually, he may do that just for fun."

"…fair point." Cana mumbled something under her breath and Lucy cocked her head towards her friend/mentor.

"What do you mean by shipping?" The color drained out of Cana's face as Erza's eyes narrowed towards her.

"Levy, have you heard that there is a betting pool in the guild based around us?"

"Oh shit…" Cana muttered.

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"Oh shit!" The final slaver panicked as the Goku approached him. It had been a simple day at first for the small band of criminals, they had merely been mapping out their next planned raid around the breakfast table when a man had burst in through their roof and thrown the boss through the window, down the cliff, and out to sea. The men had rallied briefly in defense but it became all too clear just how badly outmatched they were when their head bruiser was punched straight up through the roof and out of sight. He had yet to come back down.

The rest had simply been a matter of time. The mercenary aimed a shaky glowing sword towards the orange fighter even as he made timid steps backwards towards the door. Goku blurred forwards, knocking the sword to the side with a quick swipe of his red staff before sending the man to the floor.

"Okay, bad guys are all down. I even left one conscious this time so I won't have to wait around. Huh, I knew I could get that right eventually!" The man tried desperately to scramble backwards but Goku swung the pole down and pinned his jacket to the ground. The man desperately tried to shake it off but a heavy boot was pressed down hard on his chest, driving all the air from his lungs and leaving him trapped. Goku meanwhile looked up through the holes in the roof, scanning the sky.

"Alright, and…there he goes." The panicky criminal followed Goku's gaze and watched as his screaming comrade finally returned to the Earth and crashed down into the ocean with a mighty splash.

"…He should be fine. I think. As long as he can swim. Anyways, I'm Goku! I'm looking for a group of slavers that kidnapped a guy name Simon about 10 years ago along with most of his village. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me."

"A-are you joking? You're asking if I know of one slave from a decade ago? I just joined this gig a couple years back man, I don't know anything about that!" Goku sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, that's what the last six batches said too."

"Six…batches?" Goku nodded.

"I've been just traveling all up and down the coast looking for clues. I've busted up a lot of camps trying to get some clues."

"Wha-what kind of a monster are you? How is tha' even possible?"

"I don't think it helps that all of you people only go after soft targets. You get so used to attacking people who can't fight back that when someone actually stands up to you, you fold like paper."

"Am sorry man! I'm really sorry alright! I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt me!"

"Good! Now, I was hoping to have some ideas for when my friend Kagura shows up eventually but I didn't really know where to start. All I really know is that a large group of slavers took her brother and that she's been looking for him since then with no luck."

"And you're helping her? Man, most of the people we grab don't make it past 3 years, how the hell do you think you're going to find him 7 more past that. Even if he's still breathin', he's probably just a shade by now. One of those worker zombies who don't know nothing but when it's time ta eat and time ta go ta sleep."

"So you're saying that there is no hope?"

"Ya man, there isn't anything you can do at this point even if you find the guy! It doesn't matter anymore man. There's no point ta keep looking."

"Right then. So you're telling me that the man is either dead or a husk at this point."

"R-right!"

"And he's like that because you or people like you ripped him from his home and utterly ruined his life for the sake of making a few quick bucks?"

"Uh…"

"And you've done this to who knows how many people for over three years now."

"But…I…"

"People like you make me sick, you only care for yourselves and your own satisfaction. Everyone else is beneath you and you act like you're the king of the world. But then the moment things change you fall to your knees, groveling for your life and expecting the same mercy that you denied so many other people."

"I'm so sorry, please, please don't hurt me. I didn't mean anything by it I just-UFF!" The man's blubbering was cut off by a sharp blow to the back of the neck. Goku shook his head in disgust and marched out of the ruined building. The Rune Knights that he had been signaling before each raid could clean up after his mess.

Brushing off a bit of dust from his clothes Goku walked a short bit away from the hideout to the small rocky outcrop that Nimbus was waiting for him behind. It was only when he got close that he realized that another presence had taken cover there as well. Goku darted around the stones with his hand outstretched and glowing blue to confront a figure shrouded in a massive black cloak.

"Well well, I'm quite impressed with your efforts so far. Not many people would be willing to go so far to rescue a total stranger. Unfortunately your interrogation skills are a bit lacking. You might have been better off going after the leaders rather than just whoever happened to be the last man standing." The voice was male but Goku's lips twitched in amusement when he recognized it.

"You're the one that was on Galuna Island and tried to control the demon."

"Ah, so you recognize me at least then, good. I was worried that a fool such as yourself-"

"So do you dress like that to keep your identity a secret or just because you like to cross-dress? I mean, I know a lot of girls that don't mind wearing guy's clothes. But I doubt any of them would enjoying having to alter their voice all the time like that."

The figure was silent for a moment, before sighing. "…I can't tell if you are mocking me or if you are actually that stupid."

"You didn't answer the question." Goku noted. A nearby boulder suddenly exploded into a barrage of shards that Goku casually swatted out of the air with a ki blast before they could reach him.

"So anyways, what are you doing here?" The disguised woman took a moment to collect herself, clamping down on her anger to regain her previously aloof attitude.

"Your recent endeavors have merely caught my interest. That impressive beast form, your victory over Jose, and now your attempts to single handedly eliminate the slave trade. Very interesting indeed."

"You've been watching me."

"Of course I have. Knowledge is power. Though I doubt that is a statement you can actually appreciate. Nonetheless, it just so happens, I can actually aid you with your current objective."

Goku considered this. On the one hand, some creepy guy/lady was offering him the information he was looking for. On the other hand, he probably couldn't trust what he/she told him. But on the other, other hand, he wasn't getting anywhere beating up slavers, and just being around them was making him feel dirty.

"What do you know?"

"I know many things of course. I know how your staff works. I know what the little red key you gave the Celestial mage is for. I know who is responsible for your friend Erza's condition when you first met her." Goku eyes shot upwards and he took a step back in surprise. The figure smirked under their cloak and moved forward to match Goku's retreat.

"I know of your Masters condition and I can predict to the hour that he will return. I am aware of at least two organizations that have plans in development that would utterly destroy your guild and leave the entire magical community of Fiore in shambles. I've heard whisperings of a power from another realm trying to pierce this one for unknown reasons, and I've heard of a fallen dark mage long forgotten slowly regaining his former power. I know of a monster more powerful than any other that hopes to one day raze this world to the ground. But, for your purposes, I know of a tower located far off the coast. A tower manned by an army of cultists who have been gaining a workforce through forced slavery all across the land. I know that this group has experienced a change in leadership just about a decade ago, and that under this new leader many of the old slaves were converted to cult members as well. This place is responsible for the single largest slave trade in the land, exchanging people for funds so that they may continue building upwards. I know that this tower is likely the very best chance that you will have for finding what you are looking for."

"…and you're telling me this because?"

"Perhaps I merely wish to be charitable."

"Yeah… not buying that." Goku took a step forward, seizing the woman/man's cloak before she could step away. "Why don't you tell me a little more?"

"Ahu hu hu. My word, you are arrogant. What makes you think you have the right to demand answers from me."

"Knowledge may be power. But in my experience, power is also power." Goku raised his free hand and set it aglow with energy. "Why don't we talk about those 'organizations' planning to destroy my guild? That sounds like something I want to talk about."

"Sorry, I have somewhere to be." The figure snapped their fingers and Goku jerked backwards.

He couldn't breathe.

Before he could gather his wits to attack, the boulder that had shattered earlier reformed and slammed into him, knocking him away. The woman stepped back, jumped into the air and began to float away.

"Huhuhu. You are quite right, power is also power. This is something I already knew, which is why I came prepared." She snapped her fingers and Goku began to breathe again. "Until we meet again." The figure waved, and disappeared.

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Miles away in the capital city of Fiore, a blue haired man and dark haired woman locked themselves away in an office within the Magical Council's Main Hall. The man walked over to the rich mahogany desk and poured a couple of glasses of wine before passing the second over to his accomplice.

"Finally, after all these years we are ready to begin." The man spoke. "The sacrifice has even done us the service of leaving her home and heading down south, straight towards us. The night that she arrives, everything will finally begin. Her new friends should prove to be of no consequence, should they choose to attempt to pursue us they shall be drowned in a legion of slaves before getting crushed by the elite. Should they retreat and try to bring back help they will never be able to arrive in time. Things will be well over hours before their reinforcements would even be able to depart. Not even her dear friend with his little cloud would be able to reach us with such short notice until everything was all over." He raised the glass. "To us." He toasted.

"Yes Siegrand, the fools of the magical council will act exactly as how we manipulate them and once the girl reaches your true body her fate, and the fate of the rest of the world, will be sealed." The woman replied, her head lowered. Her hair draped around her face, shrouding the smirk that graced her face.

Her plans might coincide with the man's for the moment, but her newest prospect had changed everything. She had made sure to attend to him personally. The monkey man would find his proper place on the stage, a teleportation scroll well spent.

And the show was about to begin. Unknown to her dear accomplice, he was now on a collision course, her two best chances at obtaining her goals set to crash head on with one another in a glorious conflict that would show her exactly what she wanted to know. One of them would most likely die, but that was fine. If they were weak they would not be worth her time.

After all, time wasn't necessarily set in stone.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

WHILE OUR HEROES MOVE INTO POSITON FOR THEIR NEXT CONFLICT, WHILE SINISTER FORCES CONSPIRE IN THE BACKGROUND…WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH GRAY?

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: WOMAN OF THE RAINS

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

S&amp;D here for another omake.

**Naval battle **(Is this omake canon to the story? I'll let you decide)

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

_Some time before Deloria._

Mira glanced around the bar; once again making sure that it was deserted save for Cana and herself. It simply would not do for any of their fellow Fairies to overhear what went on here tonight. They would gossip about it without fail, and it would only be a matter of time till it reached certain ears, dooming them all.

Mira looked back at the card mage. Cana was glaring at Mira with a fiercely defiant expression. Poor girl just didn't realize she was in the wrong.

Not to worry, Mira would set her straight in no time.

"Cana, you're my friend." Mira said gently, laying her hand on top of the card mage's. "But you are being such a block head right now."

"Me?" Cana scoffed. "Look is whose talking! You're out of your mind if you really think yours is better than mine."

Mira shook her head, letting out a sigh like someone who had to bear the full weight of all the world's fools. Long-suffering and humble; that was her in a nutshell.

"Cana, I keep telling you. The only person Goku could ever end up with is Erza. It is OTP. But if you insist on betting otherwise, I'll happily take your money."

"Pfffftttt, your OTP is trash. It's Goku and Levy all the way."

"Cana, Cana, Cana. Levy is far too immature for someone as strong and virile as Goku."

"…Mira, you do know that Goku is the one who thought marriage is something you eat, right? Then Erza told him it was a pact to fight together. Levy is the one who actually set him straight on that. Honestly, Levy is more mature than Erza and Goku put together." Cana deadpanned, quirking an eyebrow.

Mira paused. "Okay fine, mentally that's true. Nonetheless, look at their bodies. No offense to Levy of course, she's a sweetheart. But how could any man pursue Levy when Erza is available? Not gonna lie, if I swung that way, I'd be all over Erza in a heartbeat."

"...I'm… just gonna ignore that last part for now." Cana spluttered, forcefully stopping herself from picturing Erza and Mira alone together in a… Nope. Not right now… "But seriously? Goku has the sexual drive of a coconut. I bet the only way he would notice Erza's feminine wiles is for how well she's able to compensate for being top heavy when she fights."

Mira opened her mouth to protest before pausing, and letting out a sigh. "Okay, I'll admit that's also probably true. But be that as it may be, Goku and Erza is still the superior ship. You don't stand a chance in this bet."

"Are you kidding? Goku and Levy. The strong and simple warrior, along with the intelligent, yet shy, bookworm. That kind of thing has been written since the first lonely writer picked up a stick to write with. Opposites attract."

"But similarities bind. Erza is one of the few people who can match Goku in martial combat. She gives him someone to measure himself against. He longs to be the strongest warrior in the land and she is the one who can help him achieve that. She drives him to improve himself like nobody else." Mira smirked matter-of-factly, crossing her arms and grinning.

"Similarities? Oh please." Cana rolled her eyes. "You just described the relationship of rivals. The only thing they have in common is that they like to hit stuff. Their personalities out of a fight couldn't be more different. Goku's the most laid back person I know, whereas Erza is bossy as hell. If she and Goku got hitched, she'd drive him up the wall with nagging and criticism. He'd eventually snap for sure. He'd probably leave home for weeks, maybe even months at a time, just to get away from her so he could pursue his training in peace."

"And you're trying to tell me that Levy and Goku don't have different personalities?" Mira asked, making sure that Cana could hear the skepticism dripping from her voice.

"Oh course they do. But the point is that their personalities wouldn't clash like that. Levy's a nice and accepting person. She'd deal with Goku's infuriating habits with so much more understanding. Goku would still leave to train, but he'd be much more eager to get back. Erza makes a much better best friend for him than a love interest."

Mira scoffed.

"No listen, picture this: Goku fights people all the time, he loves fighting just as much as Erza. But even he's going to get tired of hitting things now and again. So where does he go? Not to Erza, they'd have nothing to do besides fight some more. But Levy, he could join her in the library or maybe a quiet secluded glade. As he sat down next to her, his body tired from the fighting. She'd smile, offering to read a book to him. He'd agree, letting her voice lull him off to sleep. That's why Levy would make a better partner for Goku, she'd offer him a quiet haven from the fighting, a place to rest and recuperate, a _home_." Cana finished, grinning and leaning back in triumph.

"Hmmmm." Mira tapped her finger against her cheek in contemplation, Cana had raised some fine points, even if she had neglected some of the finer points of Erza's personality: her fierce loyalty and her deep love for her friends. Goku and Erza would certainly be able to work through any difficulties.

But Cana had her on the defensive here; Mira had let her build her case for too long and would likely dismiss those points if Mira raised them. If she wanted to win this battle, Mira would have to make a strong counter attack.

"You're only considering the logical side of how their relationships would work. I'm afraid you're neglecting the emotional foundation of it all."

"Uh… what?" Cana blinked. There it was, a hesitation, time for shipmaster Mira to press the attack.

"Goku has known Erza literally longer than he has known anyone else alive. She was the first friend he ever made. That's a strong emotional bond that gives her an edge over Levy. I've noticed that whenever Goku has a problem, he goes to Erza to talk about it before anybody else." There, let's see Cana recover from_ that_ one.

"That may be true. But that doesn't mean that she's going to jump his bones. People can be intimate and trust each other without being lovers. Sometimes, being lovers actually destabilizes relationships like that. I can't see Erza taking a risk like that lightly. She takes things like this far too seriously."

"Yeah Erza can be pretty serious." Said Goku.

"Exactly! And- GOKU!" Cana shrieked attempting to leap back and falling over her stool with an unpleasant thunk. "H-how long have you been here?" she demanded.

"Oh, I just got here. What were you talking about? What's Erza being so serious about?"

"Oh, it's nothing worth worrying about." Mira assured, heart pounding. Why hadn't she heard him enter? Under no circumstances could Goku be allowed to find out. He might not care. But he'd most likely mention it to Erza. That must be avoided at all cost. "So Goku, tell me, what brings you to the guildhall so early. It can't be later than one in the morning, aren't you usually off on a cross country run or something around this time?"

"Normally yeah." Goku nodded. "But there will be time for that later. I'm doing something with Levy today and I've got to be ready."

"_Really?"_ Cana drawled, waggling her eyebrows at Mira. "And what might that be?"

"She'd going to be testing me on all my reading and writing skills, to make sure I haven't been slaking off. I came in early to do some extra review before hand. I don't want to let her down."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Cana cooed, shooting Mira a victorious grin.

"Yep! And then I'm going on a mission with Erza, she wants to locate this group of warrior blacksmiths. Apparently if you defeat them in combat, they'll make you the strongest weapon or armor you could ever ask for. It sounds like a lot of fun."

Now it was Mira's turn to look triumphant, Cana just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'd better get to work. See you two later." Goku turned and walked towards the guild library.

Mira and Cana waited for him to leave before turning to each other with a glare.

"O. T. P." Mira murmured, her eyes narrowed in challenge.

"Yeah whatever." Cana smirked, reaching into her bag and pulling out her wallet. "I'm doubling my wager."

_Fin._

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Well all right readers, there we have it. Will the shipmaster Mira rule the roost? Or will the underdog Cana win the jackpot? Will they be able to continue the bet behind Erza's back now she knows?

Probably not. Will they try? Without a doubt, there's a lot of money on the line.

And very soon you will have another chapter, from myself. Heroman is a busy guy, and he doesn't have as much time to write as I do.


	28. Welcoming the Rain

Guess who!

It's S&amp;D!

I'm back with another chapter of my own, some of the reviews said they wouldn't mind seeing more, provided it doesn't interfere with Heroman's chapters update schedule. Don't worry, these works of mine are almost completely independent from his chapters. He's a much busier guy than I am, so I write these things to fill some bits he couldn't find the time for.

But before that…let's have a little chat about something that is of great interest to us all:

Ships.

Personally I find a sailboat much more enjoyable than a motorboat but… no? Somehow I doubt any of you are interested in a nautical diatribe right now... shame… But anyway, lets move on to romantic fantasies about fictional characters.

Well… heroman is honestly more of an explosions and fighting kind of guy. But as you all noticed, some shipping is leaking into the story. How did that happen?

Many seem to be VERY interested in Goku's potential love life. Lots of people are all about Erza, but there are some pulling for Levy, as well as a dark horse in the form of Kagura. My, my, such delicious options.

Which one of these bombshells is going to get the guy?

Will any of them? Or will they be unable to overcome Goku's insatiable lust for training?

And will it happen any time soon?

Now, since I'm so magnanimous, I'm going to use my beta knowledge to tell you that in the upcoming arc there is going to be a lucky lady that gets to have some heavy make outs.

But I'm sure none of you care about that , so let's move on to the chapter.

While all these tower of heaven shenanigans are going on. There is an important plot point of the original Fairy Tail that has been left out. I will not allow this incredibly important thing to go unaddressed, and so:

Welcoming the Rains

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Back at the guild:

"So what, you just had a fully cooked meal appear in front of you? Like, it just showed up?" Mira asked, staring at the half-naked mage skeptically.

"Yah." Gray replied, his voice muffled by the well-prepared food in his mouth. He was holding up the mystery lunchbox up for inspection. It was simple brown one, normal and set off no alarm bells. On the inside however…

"And… the food is arranged to look like you face?"

"It was actually a pretty good likeness."

"And you don't find that weird?"

"I mean, now that you're saying it all out loud…"

"I think it's a ghost!" Happy declared, sitting on the counter and chugging a mug of warm milk.

"Happy, that's dumb." Said Natsu, shaking his head. "How could it be a ghost? Ghost's can't cook."

"What if it was the ghost of a chef?"

"That's… hmmm," Natsu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Why would a ghost chef be following Ice-for-Brains around?"

"Maybe it's an ice cream chef!"

"Then why isn't he getting ice cream?"

"It's not a ghost." Said Gray, rolling his eyes. "That would be stupid."

"I don't know Gray." Mira replied, grinning. "Is it really? There's a mage in Fairy Tail who literally summons ghosts from around Magnolia , you know, Chico? Maybe it is a ghost."

"Mira. Stop. You're just feeding the flaming idiots fuel."

"OH! OH!" Happy jumped up to his feet and started waving his paws around, "I think I know what it is!" The cat was jumping around with such excitement that he knocked over his now empty glass of milk.

"And what's that?" Mira asked, smiling indulgently as she caught Happy's glass before it hit the floor.

"Gray, I bet it's your old master!"

Gray choked, Mira reached over and patted him on the back. "You mean Ur?" she asked. This was probably going to be in bad taste but she couldn't deny that she was curious to see where the cat was going with this.

"Aye!"

"That's even dumber than ghosts." Gray declared, glaring at the cat as he coughed.

"No really, you said she turned into living ice, then melted and drained out into the sea, Aye?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And you said whenever you find one of these lunches, everything around them is wet?"

"… Yes."

"I bet her water is following you around and watching over you from beyond the grave!"

"Aww." Mira cooed. "That's kind of sweet."

Gray paled, swallowing hard. "L-like I said, that's dumb."

"Say," Natsu said, eyeing his rival's distress with a grin. "Didn't you say you kept a piece of that ice for yourself. I bet she's haunting you because of that."

Gray stood up. "I'm going for a walk." He said, stiffly. 'I need to go do some… stuff."

Natsu waited for Gray to get halfway out the door before bursting into laughter. Gray sped up, running out the door as Natsu started pounding the counter in delight.

"That was great!" he gasped, "Did you see his face? Didn't know snow-head was scared of ghosts."

"Aye!"

"Come on Happy! We need to milk this." Natsu grabbed the cat and ran off, waving goodbye to Mira.

Mira waved and gathered up the dishes. Reconstruction for the guildhall had been going well. Fairy Tail had always had a good relationship with the local construction companies due to all the business they generated. They had been quick to offer a good deal on building materials and all the able-bodied Fairies had pitched in. So far they had all the basic amenities up in working except for the plumbing.

Things were looking good now the phantom storm had passed.

While she worked, Mira couldn't help but eye the lunchbox Gray had left behind. It seemed like Gray finally had a fan. It was bound to happen eventually, being a powerful mage in a prominent guild always led to at least a little fame. In truth she'd always thought it odd that he'd never been given a celebrity name like Salamander or Titania. You'd think with his stripping habit combined with his well-toned body would lead to all kinds of attention.

Maybe it was just that scandalous pictures of him were so easy to get the paparazzi wasn't interested? She'd always thought of them as sort of like creepy game hunters.

Regardless of how it happened, it seemed the ice mage had caught someone's eye. She couldn't deny it made her curious. Mira glanced around before scooping out some rice from the lunch box and eating it. It really was quite well prepared. Someone has put quite a bit of effort into this. At least his new fan and/or stalker had good taste in food. They were probably just too shy to show their face when they gave it to him.

She couldn't deny that the situation peaked her interest.

But really, she would be better off just leaving this alone. Gray could sort it out. It wasn't any of her business. Mira nodded, turning away. She still needed to figure out how she was going to clean the dishes since the water wasn't working yet.

She glanced back at the lunchbox, sitting on the counter and gleaming with the promise of only the juiciest gossip.

No. She was acting guild master now. That meant she had to let her mages take care of their own problems.

Still, what did Gray know about dealing with stalkers? Since her stint as a Sorcerer magazine sensation she'd had to deal with the occasional obsessed fan. It hadn't been that hard, most of them just wanted an autograph or maybe a light pummeling to make them go away. But some of the others…well…

People were weird. The less said about them, the better.

Nonetheless, Gray was a strong mage. He almost certainly wouldn't end up kidnapped and married against his will.

He'd be fine.

Then again, wasn't she his friend? Didn't she owe it to him to make sure he wasn't turned into some crazy person's personal stripper?

Yes. Yes she did.

Mira nodded to herself once again, investigating this was the right thing to do, both as a friend and as a responsible guild master. She certainly wouldn't be doing this just to stick her nose into Gray's business.

That settled it. Detective Mira was on the case!

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Juvia was so happy!

Juvia was walking on air. Juvia was skipping on sunshine. Juvia was basking in the warm glow of destiny.

Juvia was in love.

Juvia sighed, almost literally melting into a puddle of twitterpated goo. But just managed to stop herself. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she let herself into her temporary apartment and closed the door behind her.

"Yo Juvia! You're lookin' pleased."

"Hmm? Oh, hello Sue." Juvia waved to her fellow ex-phantom, who was lounging on a threadbare couch. Across from her, Boze was strumming a guitar, filling the cheap apartment with the sound of music. He nodded towards Juvia when she entered, but quickly turned back to his instrument.

After the Phantom's had lost the guild war, rune knights had rounded up many of the rank and file members. While Jose had been sentenced to prison as the real warmonger behind it all, many of the Phantom mages were facing other charges without their guild master using his influence to cover them. Juvia herself had slipped away into the ocean before anyone could grab her. She'd actually been one of the less destructive and/or murderous members of Phantom Lord, so she was of lesser priority to the authorities. Although there had been one or two incidences in the past where she might have accidently flooded a town or two. Juvia wasn't sure if it had ever been linked back to her.

Hence why she was trying to keep a low profile. So were Boze and Sue, she'd met them in the streets and recognized them as Gajeel's underlings, they'd always been civil with her, so she'd invited them to stay with her. Speaking of which…

"How is Gajeel?" she asked.

"How do you think he is?" Sue rolled her eyes. "He's sitting around sulking and eating his way through what he was able to scavenge off of Jose's giant doom robot. Same as he has for the past week."

"Careful. Don't let him hear you say stuff like that." Said Boze, glancing out the window nervously. "You know the guy's got crazy good hearing."

"Whatever, I'm not even sure why he's sticking around."

"Juvia thinks he's lonely." Confessed Juvia, sitting down in a chair and staring out the window.

Sue and Boze glanced at each other then back at Juvia.

"If that's the case," said Sue, "Then he shouldn't be such a scary son of a bitch. It's kind of off putting."

"Understatement of the century right there." Boze muttered.

"Gajeel isn't scary, he's always been perfectly friendly to Juvia." Juvia protested.

"Yeah? Well Juvia also happens to be stab-proof."

"Juvia is sure Gajeel wouldn't stab somebody without a good reason." Juvia insisted earnestly. Gajeel wasn't really that bad, she'd always felt that it was just Jose who acted as an enabler for bad behavior. Her ex-master always seemed to bring out the worst in people.

"We're talking about the same guy, right? Tall, black hair, eats nails out of a cereal bowl?"

"Enough about the metal head," said Sue, "if he wants to sulk, let him. There's more important things to talk about." Sue grinned, leaning in towards Juvia. "You have any luck on hunting down your new boy toy?"

"S-Sue!" Juvia squealed, turning red and pressing her hands to her face. She could not believe Sue would just say that! "Don't talk about him like that!"

"Can't believe she'd fall for a fairy." Boze said, shaking his head.

"Better than a phantom guy, they were all massive pricks with tiny dicks." Said Sue in a singsong voice.

"You know that I was a phantom guy as well, right?"

"My point exactly."

"Hate you."

"Hate you too. But anyway, we're getting off topic. Juvia. Boy toy. Juicy details. Now."

Juvia moaned, shaking her head in mortification. This was so embarrassing; she wasn't ready to share her love with the world.

"That's another thing, why are you teasing her, Sue? You realize she could drown you with, like, her pinky, right?"

"There are more important things in life than breathing."

"Like gossip?"

"Duh."

While Sue went off on a tangent, explaining to Boze exactly why gossip was more important than life, Juvia was trying to pull herself together. But it was so hard. Just the thought of… him… made her weak at the knees. He was so strong, so handsome, and even after everything her guild had down to his guild. Done to his friends. He had still spared her life. Then adding in what her had done for her… the gift he had given her.

Juvia couldn't help herself; she swooned so hard she passed out.

"And… she's fainted again." Boze commented eyeing the prone water mage. "Seriously, that can't be normal. Was she always like this? Did nobody notice?"

"Actually, I think they were too scared of her or what Gajeel would do to them if they mouthed off about her."

"I'm just saying, it's really frickin' weird."

"It's called romance" Sue rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't expect you to understand, you're such a Booze-head."

"Oh look at you, adding stuff to my name to try to make it an insult. I can do it too you know, you're Sue…ch a bitch. See? Easy."

As they bickered, Juvia regained consciousness. She sighed deeply, not bothering to get up. Juvia had fainted again. How would she ever be able to approach him if Juvia passed out at the mere thought of him?

Juvia stared at the ceiling. It was a dull color, white with splotches of grey here and there. She felt a connection with this patch of ceiling. The grey gloom of her rain had been blown away, leaving only patches. She now had the chance to fill that empty space with a flood- no, not a good word- a rainbow of color, joy, and love. But it was hard. She had been gloomy for so long, much like this ceiling had been a dull white for so long. She didn't know where to start; did she seek the yellow brightness of friendship, the red passion of love, or the shy blue of distant admiration? How could she possibly paint all of the-

Wait. What time was it? Juvia glanced at the tiny clock on the wall and-

DEAR LORD! IT WAS ALMOST NOON!

She didn't have time to bare her heart to the ceiling, she had to hurry and make his lunch for him!

Shooting to her feet, Juvia rushed into the kitchen, opening a cabinet she pulled out one of the dozens of lunchboxes she'd bought to give to him. Opening the pantry, Juvia wailed, they were out of rice! This was the worst possible thin- oh wait, no they weren't. There was a box behind the crackers. Grabbing the rice and a couple other things she feverishly began to craft a full meal. Pouring all her passion into making the perfect lunch.

She diced, she chopped, she dyed and arranged. In the end she had assembled what she could only hope was a satisfying meal. She'd even managed to assemble a likeness of his face, just so there could be no doubt about who this was meant for.

It wasn't nearly good enough for him. But it would have to do.

She dashed back to the living room, waving goodbye to Sue and Boze and bustled out into street. She needed to find him quickly. Where might he be? His apartment? No, she knew from several days of careful observation that he only used that place for sleeping. He was most likely at his guildhall, provided he hadn't left for a mission since she had seen him this morning.

She hurried through the streets, trying to be discrete but also move quickly. Although she took care to duck into side alleys whenever she saw someone else. She didn't want to run into any rune knights who might recognize her.

Beating up government soldiers would waste time she could spend getting to him .

Juvia came out of an alley; she glanced down the street and froze. There was another figure walking down the road. Juvia knew that wonderful profile anywhere! She saw it in her dreams every night. It was him!

Oh NO! What if he saw Juvia? She wasn't ready for that! She dashed into a side alley, and hid behind some trashcans, taking care not to let the lunchbox touch them. She took a moment to fruitlessly attempt to still her frantically beating heart before peeking out.

They he was. Gray Fullbuster , the magnificent ice mage of Fairy Tail, was walking right down the street! He was fully clothed, unfortunately… Or maybe it was fortunate. Juvia wasn't sure her heart would be able to take it if she had to go near him while having to look at his mesmerizing body .

He was walking slowly, which was good. That would give her time to work up the nerve to drop off the lunch in front of him and disappear before he could actually see her.

It also gave Juvia time to ogle. He looked especially good today, his raven black hair framed his face perfectly, his movements were cool and graceful as a figure skater, and his expression… Juvia frowned; actually he looked a little freaked out. He also kept glancing nervously at what looked like a shard of ice he was holding in his hand. As he began to get closer, she could also tell he was muttering to himself, straining her ears she was just barely able to make out what he was saying.

"Calm down, it was just Happy being stupid. Right? There is absolutely no way that she could possibly be doing it. She's technically not even dead, so how could she be a ghost? She's probably at the bottom of the ocean by now. Getting peed on by sharks… ugh, what a great way to remember master."

Juvia blinked, she had no idea what he was talking about. But it didn't matter, he was almost at the entrance to the alley, she needed to be ready to leave him his lunch. Maybe it would cheer him up from whatever it was that was bothering him. wait for it… wait for it.

"I mean, it was probably a one off thing, I bet it's never going to happen again."

Now! Juvia flashed, out in a stream of water, dropping the lunch at his feet and zipping up to the top of a nearby building, she looked back down at him, eager to see his reaction.

He… did not look as thrilled as she had hoped .

Gray was staring at the lunch with trepidation, perhaps even fear. Oh no! did… did he not like the meal she made for him this morning? Did he hate them now? Did he hate her?

"OoOoOoOoOhHhHhHh! GrAaAaAyYyYy!"

Juvia and Gray both blinked at the voice, looking over they saw a white blob floating across the street towards the ice mage. It looked like some kind of animal, covered in a white sheet with a crudely drawn face on it.

"The hell?" Juvia heard her destined soulmate mutter.

"I am your master Gray. I have returned to you."

"Oh. You have got to be shitting me." Gray deadpanned.

"Ay- I mean nay. My dear student. I have returned to take care of you."

"Yeah. Listen to your master." A second voice added, another figure was staggering up the road. This one was clearly a person wearing a sheet; it didn't completely cover them so you could see their legs.

"Oh my god." Gray face palmed. "You. Dumb. Idiots."

"That's no way to talk to you master! Ice for brai- I mean, Gray my student."

"Aye." The first one added, "After we went through the trouble of returning for you, we know you can't take care of yourself."

"Okay." Gray's voice was like that of a clerk looking at an unexpected stack of paperwork, as though he wasn't quite sure if he should just accept the situation or start getting angry. "If you're really Ur, then why are there two of you?"

The 'ghosts' glanced at each other, then the flying one landed on top of the person, spreading it's sheet out over the second one.

"We don't know what you are talking about Gray. There is only one of us."

"AyYyYyYyEeEeEeEe!"

"Wait a second…" Gray narrowed his eyes, like the metaphorical clerk eyeing his idiot boss and reaching for his pointiest letter opener , and gestured back at the lunch Juvia had made for him. "Are you two idiots behind this?"

"…uh… yes. As we said, we are here to take care of you."

What!? That wasn't true! Juvia had made that lunch! Why was this weird person claiming it had been them? Were they trying to win Gray's love as well? How many love rivals did she have!? The thought of it set her insides boiling.

Gray suddenly leapt forward grabbing at the figure and pulling off the sheets, revealing a person Juvia recognized as the Salamander and… a blue cat?

Gray crossed his arms, glaring down at them. "Wow master." He said, voice dripping with sarcasm, "you've really changed."

"Natsu." the cat whispered, "I think he's on to us."

"Oh whatever, you scaredy-snowflake, at least I'm not afraid of ghosts."

"Say that again." Gray said, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh are you hard of hearing too? I said you're a chicken!" Salamander had gotten to his feet and was taunting Gray, flapping his arms and clucking.

"That's it." Gray tackled him and they started rolling around yelling and swearing as the cat hovered above them making chicken noises.

Above them all, Juvia sat paralyzed; she had no idea what was going on or what to do. So she sat in silence, quietly rooting for Gray as the two Fairies punched each other.

Suddenly, disaster struck. Their flailing had knocked over the lunchbox, sending its contents spilling out across the street.

Juvia felt her heart break.

She sat numbly as the mages continued to fight their way down the street out of sight. Her labor of love left forgotten on the ground.

Juvia wanted to melt into a puddle and die, she wanted to turn into water vapor and fly away, she wanted to break down and cry but she knew she mustn't, if she let her sadness fall from her eyes she knew it would start raining and that would just make everything even worse. So instead of doing those things she just quietly climbed off the building and went to gather up the lunchbox.

She… she could try again later? Do a better job? Maybe drown Salamander first so he couldn't interfere? Was that an acceptable way to deal with a love rival? Some of the romance books she had read suggested as much. She tried to focus on what she was doing, but her eyes were starting to water and she could hear a distant boom of thunder.

Why did love have to be so gosh darn hard?

"Ahem."

Juvia froze. Someone was standing behind her. Not good. What it if was Gray? She might just literally die on the spot. Slowly she turned her head, looking up from where she was kneeling on the ground.

"Hi there, my name is Mirajane ."

"J-Juvia knows who you are." The blue haired woman whispered, looking up with eyes so wide and still, a deer in the headlights couldn't have done it better.

This investigation had certainly taken an interesting turn.

After detective Mira had generously decided to investigate Gray's potential love life for him. She had started following him shape shifted into a tiny bird so he wouldn't notice. She'd watched him wander down the street for a few hours until she saw this woman drop the lunchbox in front of him in a stream of water. Really, it was surprising Gray hadn't caught on to her there and then. A giant waterspout coming out of nowhere wasn't exactly subtle. Then Mira she had witnessed Happy and Natsu's… prank. Well, no one had ever claimed Natsu was the sharpest knife in the crayon box.

But worrying about Natsu's intelligence wasn't the problem; the problem was the distraught woman in front of her, the distraught S-class mage who could probably flood the city if she really wanted too.

Mira knew exactly who Juvia was. She'd actually seen her once or twice before at Sorcerer magazine photo shoots, although they'd never spoken due to the whole Fairy-Phantom rival thing. But Mira had heard the rumors. Juvia was the strongest woman of Phantom lord, a calm and powerful mage who kept to herself, she only ever showed up to the Sorcerer events whenever it was politically advantageous, probably Jose's doing, now that Mira thought about it.

Mira would need to handle this delicately; she was in no position to pick a fight with another S-class mage. From what Gray had told her of his fight with her, Juvia was both dangerous and temperamental. So why was she following Gray around and giving him meals? Based on the fact that Gray hadn't died of poison, her motive probably wasn't revenge. Was she really just enamored with him? That was what Mira's gut was telling her, but still… those questions could wait. There was something more important to deal with right now.

"Are you alright?" Mira asked gently, kneeling down in front of the ex-phantom.

"Juvia is fine." She sniffed, clutching the lunchbox against her chest. "And even if she wasn't, why would you care? Juvia was an enemy of your guild not even a week ago."

A fair question. "Well, I was passing through the area and saw you. I couldn't help but think you looked awfully sad." At this Juvia tensed, as though she was expecting Mira to attack her.

"And?" the water mage hissed, her eyes narrowed.

"And if it was me sitting in the middle of the road about to cry my eyes out, I know I would want someone to try to help me."

Juvia blinked, her brow furrowing. She looked puzzled, as though Mira had just told her the genders were actually a myth and everyone was just pretending.

"So, I'd like to ask again, if you don't mind. Are you really alright?"

"…No."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"…No." A pause, Juvia wiped her eyes and looked away. "But thank you. It was … kind of you to ask."

Honestly, Juvia looked more pleased by that than it really warranted. Mira was getting the uncomfortable feeling that this woman had not seen a lot of kindness. Again, Jose had probably seen to that. He'd struck Mira as the type who saw kindness as weakness. "Look, would you like to grab a bite to eat with me? I know a really nice place nearby."

Juvia's expression went from grateful to downright confused, with a hint of suspicion. "Why are you being so nice to Juvia? Juvia personally attacked several of your guild mates."

"Well, I'm a Fairy," Mira shrugged, offering her most winning smile. "We're notoriously bad at holding grudges. Maybe if you were Jose. But you're not. So, you coming or what?" Mira held out her hand.

Juvia sat for a moment staring wide-eyed at Mira, before nodding weakly. "Juvia would like that." Quietly she took Mira's hand and got to her feet.

"Great! Just follow me." As Mira lead Juvia through the streets, she could see Juvia pulling herself together, slowly pulling herself back into the calm and collected woman Mira remembered from the Sorcerer photo shoots.

That calmness showed a crack when they stopped in front of their destination. Juvia looked at Mira incredulously.

"This is where you want to eat?" she asked.

"Yep."

"This is your guildhall."

"Is it?" Mira asked innocently. "Oh, so it is. Well, I've heard the food is pretty good here, which may or may not be because I make it." plus, if you turn violent, I'll have plenty of back up.

"Juvia does not think she would be very welcome here."

"Well, I'm acting guild master while Master Makarov is indisposed and I'm personally inviting you in." there were perks to being in charge after all.

Juvia still looked unsure. Mira didn't blame her, but Mira wouldn't get to the bottom of all this if she let Juvia's doubt get in the way.

"Well come on. You've already come this far, might as well go the rest of the way."

Juvia nodded though didn't move. Mira rolled her eyes and grabbed the water mages hand, pulling her through the doors before she had a chance to resist. Mira nodded to some of her guild-mates, but made a quick beeline for the bar. She gently manhandled the water mage onto one of the stools and slipped behind the counter.

"So what can I get you?" she asked brightly, trying not to giggle at the bemused expression on Juvia's face.

"uh…"

"A Sorcerer Sandwhich? A Spellcaster's salad? A Molotov Milkshake? Natsu loves those. Although personally, I would not recommend it unless you like the taste of napalm."

"Juvia isn't hungry."

"Well, if we aren't going to eat then let's talk."

"Juvia already said she doesn't want to talk about it."

"That's fine. We can talk about something different. I'm curious, why are you still in Magnolia? You're an S-class level mage, I'm sure you could get into any guild you wanted anywhere in Fiore."

"Juvia supposes that is true, but wishes to remain here because there is something that has caught her…er…interest."

"This something wouldn't happen to be six feet tall, have black hair, and strip naked at the drop of a hat. Would it?"

"W-w-what!?" Juvia's spluttering was as good as a confession; her face turning red was as good as blood on the water mage for Mira the gossip shark.

"You know, I actually have that lunchbox you gave him this morning. You really did make a good likeness of his face, very impressive." Mira grinned. Juvia looked so mortified, that Mira actually felt a little bit guilty. "He thought it was delicious by the way." Juvia face went from embarrassed to sparkling eyed joy so fast, Mira felt like she'd gotten whiplash from just watching it.

Well well. So Juvia truly was enamored with Gray. There was no way Juvia had been faking those expressions of emotions, nobody was that good an actor.

Oooh. It was just like a soap opera. Mira giggled internally, she couldn't help herself. This was just too good an opportunity for her.

But what should I actually do about this? The more rational side of Mira chimed in. The simple fact was that Juvia was dangerous. A powerful mage and former enemy, could Mira really allow her to run around free?

Then again, Mira couldn't really bring herself to believe that Juvia meant any harm. Plus, even if she did, Gray had beaten her once so that meant that Fairy Tail could handle it if Juvia attacked them.

Yes. Mira nodded to herself in satisfaction. The decision she was about to make was certainly being motivated by her desire for the welfare of her guild and guild mates. Certainly not by any petty desire for entertaining drama.

"Juvia."

"Y-yes?"

"How would you like to join Fairy Tail?"

Juvia just stared at her blankly.

"Did…uh…you not hear me?"

"No, Juvia did. She just thinks she must have misheard. She could swear that you just asked Juvia to join Fairy Tail."

"That would be because I did just ask Juvia to join Fairy Tail."

Juvia just continued to stare. Mira could practically hear the gears wildly churning in the water mages head. "Juvia is so confused." Juvia moaned, placing her face against the counter and groaning.

"So is that a no…?"

"Of course Juvia wants to join Fairy Tail!" said Juvia, grabbing fistfuls of her hair and tugging on it in frustration. "Juvia has been watching and seen how you and the other Fairies treat each other. It is so different from Phantom Lord, of course she wants that for herself! She just doesn't understand why you are being so nice! Explain it to her!"

"Fairy Tail believes in giving people second chances Juvia. All you've got to do is give us a chance."

"Is…is it really that simple?"

Mira nodded.

"Then…yes. Juvia would love to join."

"Fantastic!" Mira beamed "I'll need to find the guild stamp, but once I do, you can use it immediately." Mira glanced around, her eyes alighting on the sink, more specifically the mountainous stack of dirty dishes. "Hey Juvia?"

"Yes?"

"While I'm finding the stamp do you think you could clean those dishes? We don't actually have running water."

"Juvia would be happy to!" The water mage practically leapt over to counter the sink, sending a wave of boiling water over the dishes and humming to herself while she worked.

Mira nodded to herself, and left to find the errant stamp. It was probably hidden in some silly place so she'd have to look for it.

Personally she thought she'd handled this whole situation quite well. Not only had she managed to recruit a new S-class mage into Fairy Tail, she had also managed to managed to solve their the problem of running water until they had the plumbing fixed. But those weren't the most important things.

Mira had seen how Juvia looked at Gray earlier, the woman had been watching Gray chat with what had to be the single most love-struck look Mira had ever seen. Juvia had it bad for the ice mage. There was a story there. First, she was going to find out the juicy details.

And then.

She was gonna ship those two so hard.

Fin.

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

Sturm and Drang: Phew, writing Juvia's dialogue is exhausting. I'm really not happy with most of the last part from Mira's POV. The struggle was real.

But enough about that, let's get on to the next part. Got a curve ball for you folks…. Wait for it…. wait for it…

Heroman is writing the omake.

What is this madness?

Take it away Heroman:

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4 Months after Levy and Goku began training together…

Jet and Droy marched down the forest path, a pair of men on a mission. The fact that they were barely in their teens never crossed their minds as they continued their trek side by side. Things had gone on this way for far too long and they could be allowed to continue no longer. This was a matter of life and death now, their love and their pride was on the line!

They were together AGAIN.

For the twelfth day straight that little monkey boy had snatched their brilliant idol out of her chair and away from her precious books to make her train and work out. Their beautiful, delicate flower was being made to do actual physical work! Such a thing was so far beneath her, and yet she allowed herself to go along with it! She was just so kind that she simply could not say no the idiotic savage. Her mercy for the young beast was clear, she couldn't bring herself to say no to someone so clearly beneath her level. That was why her most loyal followers would do it for her.

When Jet and Droy found the pair, Levy was launching a series of basic punches at Goku. The boy leaned out of the way or blocked each one and let out a constant stream of both critiques and compliments at her form and power. The two boy shared looks of dismay at their beloved partaking in such a degrading act before making identical determined nods. It was time to begin.

"Oi! Monkey boy! We have a bone to pick with you!" Goku dodged back out of range of Levy's next punch before turning to look at the two older boys. The wide eyed innocent look didn't faze the pair in the least but Levy felt a headache coming on the moment she caught sight of their expressions.

"Guys, please tell me you aren't here to do what I think you're doing." The blue haired girl moaned.

"Don't worry Levy, we won't leave you defenseless with this hooligan a moment longer. We'll take care of this in just a few minutes and then the three of us can all go back to the library together!" Droy cheered. Jet nodded rapidly in agreement while Goku just looked confused.

"Wait, so what's going on?"

"We're here to make you pay for taking our beloved leader away from us! This is your one chance, walk away now or we'll take you down hard!" Jet said. Goku blinked for a few moments before a look of comprehension finally appeared on his face.

"Oh! You want to fight, is that it? Why didn't you just say so?" Goku began stretching out, an excited grin already forming on his face.

"I haven't had a chance to spar against you two yet! Did you want to go one on one or both of you at the same time?"

"Cocky little punk isn't he?" Droy said to Jet. "Thinks he's so cool hanging out with Levy that he's above us both!" Levy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Guys, I promise you both that it is nothing at all like that. He's just helping me get in shape, that's all."

"You don't need to worry about hiding your true feelings from us Levy! We know how agonizing it must be for you to work for him. Just hang on for a few moments and everything will be okay again!"

"…Well I tried. Goku, if you hurt them too badly I'm not going to train with you anymore, got that! You have to play nice!"

"Well…okay. I can let Natsu know that you're done then I guess."

"…What?"

"Natsu said he was looking for some new people to spar with. He said that since you've been training with me that he can use you as a stepping stone to beat me but I said to wait for us to finishing training together. I figured you probably wouldn't want to fight him now. But if we aren't going to train together anymore then I'll let you know that you're ready."

"Goku are you…? Are you blackmailing me?"

"What? But I don't have any envelopes…"

"…Yeah should have known better." Levy deadpanned. "You just honestly think I would enjoy that. You know what, you guys can all out if you want. Go completely nuts. Goku, I think I am ready to stop training today, so I will see you tomorrow. Jet, Droy, I'll make sure to send you guys some flowers in the hospital. I'm going home."

With their beloved out of harm's way, it was time for the two heroes to take on the foul beast that had been plaguing her. Droy was the first to take action.

Goku watched in amazement as all of the grass around him began to grow, wrapping itself up around his body and twisting around his limbs.

"Oh hey, that's pretty cool! What else can you do?" Droy merely chuckled in response and closed his hand into a fist. And then the plants began to squeeze.

…

…

…

"So…is it my turn now or something? Did you finish you're move? Oh, if you're trying to charge up an attack it can help if you yell! Yelling is good for a person trying to focus their energy!" Droy watched in shock as the boy casually withstood enough force to leave a full grown man withering in pain.

"Wha-what?"

"Here, watch. HAAAAAAA!" A short yell was all Goku needed to vaporize the plants containing him entirely before darting forward and knocking Droy straight across the clearing.

"Uh…Droy? You okay over there buddy?" Jet asked. A weak moan of confirmation was all he needed to turn his attention over towards the monkey boy.

"All right, I'll admit that you're pretty good taking him out like that. But it's over now, there is no way you can keep up with my speed! Jet disappeared in a rush of air, reappearing directly behind Goku to land a brutal downward chop to the top of his head the same way that one might swing an axe.

…

…

…

The effect of the blow was similar to what an axe would have done as well.

"AAAAAAGH!" Jet cried out in pain. He jumped back, waving his hand around frantically, blowing on it in an attempt to ease the pain.

"Now see, that was a little better." Goku lectured. "But you have to yell either before or during your attack, it doesn't really do you much good afterwards."

With a quick hop Goku zipped up behind Jet and chopped him across the back of the neck. The boy collapsed on his face and Goku let out a sigh.

"Well, that was a shorter fight than usual. Levy left too, so I guess training is done for the day. I wonder what Erza is up too." With that Goku dawdled off, leaving the two boys to suffer their injuries alone.

The heroes beaten, the monster triumphant, and the princess wandered off… truly not the way a fairy tale was supposed to go.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN:

A KIDNAPPING. A RESCUE MISSION. AN ASSAULT. A CONFRONTATION.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: THE TOWER


	29. The Tower

AN: I seriously regret ever making that poll. When I started this story out it was because I had a plotline that I thought was interesting and I wanted to see how well I could execute it. It's been a blast and I have gotten some great feedback from some of you readers.

But in the last few chapters, I've messed up. I made a serious error that almost resulted in me ruining what I want this story to be. I was thinking in terms of pairings rather than in terms of the plot.

Anyone who writes knows that a successful story depends on the plot more than anything, everything else are just there to make the plot better and increase the quality of the story. However, I have been looking at my story and thinking, 'how can I make the plot fit into these pairings' rather than what pairing best fits into the plot?' As a result, I ended up staring at the screen trying to get this chapter written for _hours _with barely any progress. It took me 2 weeks to get past 5 pages.

Even months ago I was realizing I might be having problems with the romance, that was why I made the poll. I wanted to see how you guys felt and whether or not that would give me any brainstorms on how to proceed. Instead it just increased the pressure to make a good pairing, and it had the neat little bonus effect of derailing my story.

Another, very annoying, thing is that almost all the reviews I've gotten recently are about one pairing or another, the number of reviews actually talking about my story or technique have plummeted. Some of you guys _freaking BOOED _S&amp;D for doing me a favor and helping me get out another chapter far earlier than I could have on my own. You actually berated him for doing me a favor and making sure you guys have more stuff to read.

That is unacceptable.

In fact, I am honestly kind of disgusted. That is not the kind of thing I want to see in my email alerts and I definitely don't want my friend to have to look at that when he logs on to see how people liked his work. I just straight up deleted every last one of them from the guest review approval page, 6 in total as of writing this.

If you guys want to drop flames then send them my way. I'm the one in charge of this story, I have final say over everything. So if you disagree with what is happening then take it up with me and leave my friend alone.

So, my rage aside, why am I having so much trouble with all of this? Because I want to keep everyone here in character as much as possible. I want to keep them as in character as possible when one of those characters is _GOKU_, you know "sexual drive of a coconut" Goku. The idiot that had to be told that marriage wasn't a type of food and only got hitched because his stalker tracked him down and made him live up to a promise he made when he was 12! I am absolutely stumped. The only character that this might be harder to write for is Luffy, and that is only because we have at least 2 counts of evidence that Goku does in fact have some sort of libido.

So for now, I'm going to carry on without focusing on pairings. They will still be in this story, in fact there will be a pairing that happens in this arc, one planned from the start. But that's a different thing entirely, one that is a hell of a lot easier to write. But I will no longer allow it to control how this plot is developing anymore. Goku's pairing is now up in the air. Originally I was in favor of Erza, however S&amp;D has made a strong case to me in favor of Levy, and someone who shall go unnamed here did the same for Kagura. I don't know which would work best anymore, so I'm instead going to write this story to the best of my ability and see what comes out of it. There will likely be some sort of pairing in the future but it will be decided by what works best with what I have written, not on which would be the cutest or which one the readers most want to see.

Also, there will be no harem. This is not that kind of story, and honestly? Goku can barely pay attention to one love interest in canon, how the hell is he supposed to manage multiple? He'd probably wind up murdered in a fit of passion or something, or castrated.

So yeah, no harem.

I'm sorry if this upsets you, but this is my story and I'm going to write it the way I feel works best. I also will not be accepting any sort of suggestions as to how to make said pairings happen. There are a grand total of two people that I totally trust in helping me make this story, S&amp;D and my unnamed friend. If you want to help then just leave me an actual review. Or flame me because the story isn't progressing the way you want anymore.

Whatever floats your boat.

…

And now that I have cleared the air, let's get on with what we are actually here for:

**Chapter 28: The Tower**

Lucy sighed, sinking herself deeper into the hot spring. She could feel the tension in her body, all the knots created by the enthusiastic idiocy she called her guild just melting away. Beside her she could hear Cana doing exactly the same. So was Levy, though admittedly, the book mage was also reading a waterproof book while she soaked.

But so what? If that was how she relaxed, then no big deal. As long as it was quiet, what did Lucy care?

There was a soft sound of splashing as another joined them.

"Room for one more?"

"You know Erza, usually people ask something like that before they do something, not after." Said Cana wryly.

"As it is said: it is better to ask forgiveness, than for permission."

"Alright then, are you actually going to ask for forgiveness?"

"Of course not. I have done nothing wrong."

Lucy grinned to herself, lazily opening up one eye to, completely innocently, check out what Erza looked like.

Lucy blinked, opening both eyes and staring. The heat and steam must have been playing tricks on her. She rubbed her eyes and checked again. Nope, it was still there.

Erza was sitting leaning back in the hot spring, just like the rest of them. She was also still wearing her full suit of armor. In the hot spring. Full metal plate. Just… what?

Lucy glanced left and right to her significantly less dressed friends, she saw a mirrored expression of puzzlement on each of their faces. Confirming that, yes they all were in fact seeing the same thing and yes they were all confused at their friend's choice of hot spring swimwear.

Cana, still quite clearly unwilling to cross the redhead, nudged Lucy. The blonde shook her head rapidly in response, only to freeze and grin awkwardly the moment Erza turned her way.

Rolling her eyes at the two, Levy was the one to speak.

"Say Erza, why are you wearing your armor in the hot spring? Aren't you worried that the water might rust the metal at all?" Cana and Lucy sighed in relief at Levy's choice of phrasing. Raising the point as a maintenance issue was less likely to feel make Erza self-conscious.

The red head looked down and blinked slowly at her attire before a light dusting of red spread across her face and down her neck.

"I…did not even realize that I was still wearing this." In a flash of golden light the steel vanished in favor of a simple baby blue one piece swimming suit. Erza's normal confident gaze dropped a shade as her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach.

The other three fairies shared a look.

A stranger might have shrugged this off as a normal teenage girl unused to being in such a state of undress in front of her friends, especially in a public place like the sauna of a resort. The three girls were not strangers and knew better.

"Are you alright Erza?" Levy was, once again, the first to speak up. "We don't have to stay in here if you don't want, there is plenty of other stuff for us to do around this place. I'm pretty sure there was fencing out in the courtyard."

"I am fine." Erza smiled, somewhat sheepishly. "Thank you for your concern. But you should not be forced to accommodate for me like that merely because I am … somewhat removed from my comfort zone. Also, this establishment may or may not have already banned me from engaging in any sort of martial combat sport. Such as fencing."

"Ya know," Cana drawled, "seeing as we are your friends and all? It's kind of our job to keep you out of uncomfortable situations. Although, I do kind of want to hear the story behind the fencing ban."

"And that business the other morning?" The redhead snapped, glaring down at the water.

"You know I didn't mean anything by it." Cana held her hands up in surrender. "Besides, friends tease each other all the time. That's a different kind of uncomfortable. This isn't from humor, jokes, or teasing. This is serious, you can barely even look us in the eye right now. What's wrong girl?"

Erza furrowed her lips, darting her eyes back and forth between the three other girls who were staring worriedly at her. Every other time something like this had come up in the past she had just clamped down on her emotions, drowning them and storing away so she could continue a pillar for the others to lean on.

She was the Titania, couldn't afford to appear weak.

But now, tucked away in a small little room with a few friends who had such concern filling their eyes…she could at least relieve some of the pressure. Her deepest secrets would always remain her and hers alone, but perhaps just a few of the lesser things?

"Did you ever hear how I got my first set of armor?" Before the others could even register the question she pressed on.

"I was in…poor condition when Goku found me before we came to the guild for the very first time. As it is, he likely managed to shorten my trip by several weeks by helping me. He gave me something that healed my body, some kind of bean. However it worked, my body was resorted to its peak without a single wound, even my eye, which had been blinded, was restored. Only wounds that had long ago scarred over remained.

Then in my first check up at the guild even that was removed. Porlyusica reported to the Master about my condition before the day was out and he took me off to the side, asking how I had gotten so many scars at such a young age. So I told him. The short story is that I received them by fighting for my friends against evil people. He didn't say much after that, he merely sat beside me and kept me company.

The next day he presented me with a newly crafted set of armor, the child's version of the Heart Kreuz. He told me that as long as I wore that armor that I would always be able to protect my friends, because while I protected them, my armor would protect me.

Looking back I know that those were nothing more than comforting words, that the armor didn't truly make me invincible. But it inspired me, if the Master would give me such a set of armor to protect myself and my comrades then I would wear it to become a shield for the entire guild. I wear it so I can protect each and every one of you without ever having to worry that something bad will happen ever again. Taking it off, it makes me feel powerless. Every time I am without my armor, I feel that something terrible might happen to you all."

"That's so sweet, and so sad." Levy murmured. "Erza, if you don't mind me asking, just what happened to your old friends?" Just like that the vulnerability bled right out of Erza's eyes and her expression hardened once more.

"That is something that I have no wish to discuss at this point in time." Levy flinched back at the biting tone but risked pushing forward.

"But you have talked to someone about all this before haven't you? Maybe Mira or Master?"

"The Master has been told some of what happened, the parts that were important to him. I saw no reason to discuss anything beyond that with him. I have not felt the need to discuss my past with anyone. It is no one's business but my own."

"Are you sure? It's been psychologically proven that when a traumatic event occurs that it almost always helps to talk about it. It might help with you discomfort out of the armor."

"Be that as it may, it is my choice and they are my issue to work through. I shall solve them on my own." With that the redhead rose from the tube, grabbed a towel. and marched straight out of the room with a deep frown on her face.

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The magically council always met every week for 8 months of the year to monitor and manage any sort of issues that might have arisen from the various legal guilds and unaligned guilds from around the world. Assembled on the council were some of the most famous members of the magical community, some of the most experienced and skilled mages in the entire country.

But more than that, they were politicians. They represented the magical community to the crown and for every moment of every day they had to hold themselves to the highest possible standard to ensure that they were allowed to maintain their position and power. That was why when they received notification for the first emergency meeting session in over a decade just three weeks after they had all gone home for vacation, they were already brainstorming damage control for whatever asinine stunt that Fairy Tail had pulled.

Thus, they were all extremely surprised when they arrived to discover that they were being summon for a true disaster.

The blue haired man Siegrain, the 9th ranked member of the Wizard Saints, stood before the rest of the Council with such an intense gaze that the rest of the room couldn't help but be silenced. To his side stood Ultear, his longtime political ally and the only person he was ever seen working with on a regular basis.

"Friends and colleagues, I am distressed to inform you of a dire situation. You are all aware of the growing problem we've been having with the slave trade in recent years, as well as the utter failure of each and every one of our attempts to combat it. However, this issue has now come to a head. We now know where they are shipping all of the slaves. Several miles off the coast of our southeastern border, a massive tower has been built without our knowledge. This tower is in the hands of a group of magical terrorist and is designed to channel magic of an extraordinary magnitude. If my intelligence is correct, they have resurrected the R-system."

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At the very top of the Tower of Heaven Jellal Fernandes' smiled into the darkness of the room. With slow, deliberate precision he reached to the chess board placed at his side and moved the leftmost black pawn forward two spaces. Diagonally in front of it was one of the white knights.

He stared at the move for a while before an almost lighthearted chuckle escaped from his lips.

"After seven long years the game has finally begun. I wonder, can you sense your impending demise? Do you feel the noose tightening around your neck? Is the hair prickling at the back of your neck as each and every seconds passes by, bringing you closer and closer to the end? Erza Scarlet, do you fear death?"

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She woke from her nap in a cold sweat. The sun had begun to set dark since she had laid down and now the entire room was cast in an orange light. Her Heart Kreuz armor glowed faintly as she rose from atop the covers and groggily wandered over towards the mirror. She gazed evenly into the eyes of her reflection, absently running her gauntleted hand across the length of chest.

"Sooner or later you will need to talk about your past to someone." She spoke to the mirror. "Things cannot continue as they are, soon they are going to start asking questions. You know this. Sooner or later you either have to trust them with everything or you are going to have to leave. They care too much too leave things as they are, it is only a matter of time." Her fingers rose to trace the steel around her upper arm, directly where her guild mark was located. Then it came back across her chest to land on the center of the yellow cross above her left breast.

"But for now, this is who you are. You are this armor. You are a shield for them so that they never have to suffer like you did. Nothing more, nothing less. It was true then, and it will continue to be true." The two Erza's stared at one another, eyes locked with unwavering conviction. With a short nod she broke away from her reflection and walked into the small washroom to refresh herself before the other girls returned.

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As yet another bandit hit the floor Goku came to a very unsatisfying conclusion. No matter how many bandits and slavers he beat, he wasn't getting anywhere. He had received no new leads, no new information. In fact, the only scraps of information he had managed to gather so far just confirmed what the strange woman had claimed before.

There was a tower somewhere in the middle of the ocean that was the center to all of the slave trading along the coast. The young warrior groaned. He really did not want to owe that lady anything after she had managed escape him twice. He leaned on the power pole and grumbled to himself.

"Well, I guess there is no helping it. I'm going to have to try and find this tower. In the ocean. With no directions at all. Ah well, how hard can it be? NIMBUS!"

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Lucy was going to kill them. Kill them both dead. Levy for suggesting that stupid little contest to decide who had to go and get Erza from her room, and Cana for distracting her to the point that it all but guaranteed that she would lose. Some best friend she was. Now it meant that she got to be the lucky girl to try and drag Erza back out of her shell again.

Yay.

With more than a hint of trepidation, Lucy slowly brought up her arm and knocked three times on Erza's door. Then she quickly stepped back almost to the other side of the hall and waited.

No immediate response.

Lucy fidgeted nervously, playing with her hair.

Silence.

A single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead.

The door opened.

Lucy had to suppress a shudder as dark eyes met her own before she was able to fully take in her companions appearance. The armor was gone, replaced by a sleek cocktail dress that accented all of the red heads' curves. The deep cleavage and long slit almost up to her hip nearly dropped the blonde's jaw to the floor.

Damn, Erza looked good. Lucy would have been jealous, if she hadn't been too busy enjoying the view.

Once her brain rebooted Lucy recalled a round of drinks with Cana that had brought up some interesting stories about her childhood. Stories about Erza stripping down with Natsu and Gray just to ensure that they took their baths properly without fighting. Stories about their childhood that revealed a key fact about the young warrior. Erza never had any sort of modesty to begin with.

"Well, I guess you're ready to head down to the gambling room then?" Erza nodded with a tight, sly grin and sauntered straight past the spirit mage towards the stairs. Lucy blinked once more before the cobwebsas her brain stalled before cleared from her mind andshaking her head vigorously and she scurriscurryinged to the stairs herself. As they made their way towards the card tables she grew a grin of her own. Cana had promised to win her next month's rent as long as she paid for the booze.

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Rule one of gambling in Fiore. If you value your money, never bet against a card mage.

Rule two was don't advertise that you're a card mage in a casino. Which was why Cana had clipped some of Lucy's keys to her belt. Misdirection was the name of the game.

"Full House!" Cana crowed, spreading her cards across the table. Lucy slid the girl another shot from across the table and the Fortune teller gave an exaggerated bow in return. The last few remaining gamblers at the table threw down their cards in disgust and stormed away from the table as Cana dragged the entire pot towards herself. With a quick examination of her loot the brunette turned and gave her blonde companion a blinding grin.

"Alright, so I might have gone just a tad overboard and gotten you rent for the next _year _instead of the next month…and enough for a few dozen shopping and booze trips. I think that should just about do it for the night, otherwise the owners might wise up and decide to kick us out before I finishing cleaning them out." Lucy had the biggest smile on her face that Cana had ever seen and the brunette's heart jumped at the sheer joy radiating off of her friend. She was so focus on the smiling face that when she finally noticed the small cube hurtling towards them it was already far too late.

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Levy and Erza leapt out of their seats when the people started screaming. They saw at once that their friends were on the ground, looking unharmed, but fully unconscious. In a flash Erza had returned to her armor and was already drawing her weapon, scanning the room for targets. Then a shriek erupted from behind her and she turned just in time with see Levy lifted into the air by some sort of plush pink rope coiled tightly around her neck. The mage flailed helplessly against the bindings before she was suddenly flung across the room to crash into the opposite wall. As she slumped to the ground unconscious the light in the room suddenly died, leaving the gambling hall in total darkness. Before Erza could formulate a plan something hard struck her across the back of the head and she slump to the ground.

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Simon sighed, staring forlornly at the woman he'd just knocked out. He shook his head; it had to be this way. He could apologize and make things right later.

With as much gentleness as he could, he pulled the sword still grasped between her fingers away and draped her up over his shoulder. Across the room he could see Sho was searching the brunette's pockets.

The teen, barely more than a boy, was twitching with nervous energy as he finally found his prize. His eyes were bright with wonder as he flipped through Cana's extensive selection of magical cards.

The other two members of their party just stood off to the side, taking the whole scene in. The first was a stocky young man sporting a fancy suit and tie. However, his stylish clothing could never take away attention from his unusual body. The boy was made up entirely of right angles, his body was like something out of a geometry problem.

The girl beside him looked far more normal at first glance, simply a teenage female clad in a black cloak. But that was until you truly took a look at her face. Red stripes went down each of her cheeks and her eyes were slanted ever so slightly like a predators. But what truly set her apart was the second pair of ears barely visible through the hair atop her head.

Simon sighed once more. He was starting to suspect they had all become very weird since they had developed their magic.

"Waaaaaalllllly! I thought you said that we could find me a little kitty cat while we were out here getting Erza! You promised but we haven't seen a single one! It's not fair!"

"I know, I know. A dandy man will never break his promises Milliana, I'll grab you the very first cat that we can find. But for now we need to jet, Erza can wake up any time. We need to get her back to the boat and restrained before she gets up. Failing to get her back home for Jellal would be the ultimate blow against my dandiness."

"Aww… Can't Sho just stick her in a card for now? If she's stuck in there then we can look for a kitty as long as we want!" The tiny blonde man perked up and smiled shyly and opened his mouth to offer his services. Before he could speak however, the Simon stepped forward and placed his hand on the smaller cat girl.

"There is no time for that now unfortunately. We have just destroyed a large part of this facility and we were hardly subtle about doing so. It is only a matter of time before the local law enforcement arrive and fighting our way out while trying to keep her contained could go poorly for us. Leaving is our best option." The feline like girl pouted with big watery eyes at the giant in one final attempt to search for a new pet.

"Come on Simon, just a few minutes?" The boy remained stoic though, choosing to turn and begin carrying his prisoner out of the building.

"There will be plenty of time to find you a pet once the tower has been completed. If you wish I shall aid you in breaking into an animal shelter next week." Behind him the girl squealed in delight and gave him a flying hug from behind. Simon barely reacted to the added weight and continued his march towards the boats. No one but Millianna saw the small grin that appeared on his face as they exited the building.

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It had all gone so very, horribly wrong.

Erza may have felt that taking her armor off would bring on terrible events. But never before had she ever had proof to back up the feelings.

She had been taken prisoner by her old friends. Her old friends that thought she betrayed them and left them to die. Her old friends who each carried a grudge deep enough to risk bringing the wrath of Fairy Tail down upon their heads. Erza's situation was dire.

She had woken up to see Sho, sweet little Sho hovering inches over her head with a look on his face that seemed equal parts malice and longing. Nothing she had said had gotten through to him, apologies and explanations were shrugged off as desperate lies and any attempt to reconnect to boy was stonewalled. The others hadn't even entered the tiny room where she was held on the ship yet but she knew they were there. Wally, Simon, Milliana.

Jellal.

She had always know it was only a matter of time before her past caught up to her. That was a simple fact that she had accepted almost a decade before hand. But she hadn't expected any of her new friends to be hurt in the process, she hadn't expected that she wouldn't even get the chance to say goodbye before she was forced to meet her fate.

Sho had left her alone after a few hours, left her with nothing to distract her from her thoughts but the gentle rocking of the boat as it glided across the sea back towards her own personal hell. She had no idea how long she was left there until the door opened again. It took her a moment to connect the giant man with the metal jaw to timid little Simon and the sudden realization made her eyes water. Even Simon, the most trusting of her friends was looking at her with eyes filled with loathing. She couldn't maintain the gaze and allowed her eyes to drop down to the floor. Simon slowly padded his way over to her and removed the restraints keeping her stuck to the wall before double checking each and every other restraint around her body. There was no chance for escape, no way out.

As if she would even want one.

The massive teen was silent as he led his prisoner onto the ship's deck. The Tower of Heaven loamed over their heads, finally completed after all these years.

The girl had been staring at the massive structure for several moments when a flash of yellow caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She twisted her head to see a tiny little cloud with a long yellow trail behind it flying straight towards the tower.

_ …no_

The little blip of color circled around the tower once, twice, and then a third time before coming to a stop right beside the very top of the building.

_No. _

With a flash of blue light a small hole appeared in the top of the tower.

_NO!_

A small speck of orange jump off of the yellow cloud and disappeared into the tower.

_NO DAMMIT NO!_

"GOKU!"

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It had taken 11 hours of nonstop flying to finally get close enough to detect the power radiating off of the tower. The entire building was filled with dozens upon dozens of people, probably the workers and slaves who had been involved in the construction. But Goku ignored those small fish and focused on the top. Four massive powers resided up there, each one of them dwarfing the entire collective of mages below. With a smile he circled around the building looking for an entry point before finally deciding to make his own. A quick burst of ki and he was in.

Then teen found himself in a shadowy room, likely the control room of the entire building. Three of the powers had moved themselves out of sight but one still remained. A man with bright blue hair stared straight at Goku as he calmly reached up and moved a single piece across the chessboard beside him.

"Check."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: AS CANA LUCY AND LEVY WAKE TO FIND THEIR FRIEND TAKEN, ERZA AND GOKU BOTH FIND THEMSELVES TRAPPED IN BATTLE. BUT IF THE CLOCK HITS ZERO, NO ONE WILL BE LEFT TO CLAIM VICTORY…

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! A BROKEN PAST AND QUIET RAGE!


	30. A Broken Past and Quiet Rage

This chapter was a huge pain in the ass from start to finish. So many rewrites and it still doesn't feel quite right.

As requested, this is my Top 10 least favorite characters of Fairy Tail list.

10\. Lucy: I liked Lucy quite a bit at the start of the series. The spunky new kid joining the big leagues and trying to grow into her own. But as the series progressed, well, she didn't. She still can't win most of her fights without help, she has to get saved more often than not, and she has basically just turned into fanservice fodder. She has had enough badass moments to keep her at the lowest spot of this list but not enough to keep her off of it entirely.

9\. Jet and Droy. They are practically one entity and will be counted as such. Fanboys. Incompetent, weak, useless, complaining fanboys. These two don't add anything to the story but the occasion gag and a slight motivator to make Gajeel actually make some sort of move on Levy now and then.

8\. Evergreen: I have a strong dislike for stuck up people and characters. I will admit that she does get better latter on but for the first few arcs I just can't wait for her to get off the screen.

7\. Carla: Speaking of snobby, Carla is likely the snobbiest character in the series. She gets better like Evergreen but she is just so condescending.

6\. Lyon: See above, basically the same reasoning.

5\. Laxus: See above with the addition of also a complete asshole until he got his ass kicked. He gets better of course but he straight up attacked his own grandfather, refuses to help with the invasion, and tries to blackmail the ladies.

4\. Jose: A throwaway villain with no character and a forgettable fight scene. It took Fairy Tail quite a few arcs to get a really good boss battle. This was not it.

3\. Minerva: What a bitch. Yadda yadda she gets better blah blah. Seriously, what a bitch.

2\. Ichiya: I mean…do I really need a reason? Everything about his character is just cringe worthy. And then they went and made a cat version of him to boot. Yeah, none of that thanks. It's honestly up in the air right now whether I'm even going to use this guy in Escalation.

1\. Jellal: But maybe not for the reason you think. I feel that as a villain Jellal was one of the strongest bad guys of the early series. He had a great backstory with Erza, he had some really kick ass moves and a pretty competent evil plan. It is after he is brought back that my problem with him emerges. He gets BORING. The amnesia kills off most of his personality and leaves him as a stoic. That's all well and good but he is just so bland. He has no real defining goals or characteristics, and he never truly pays for all that he does. He never would have even been on this list if he had either died when the tower blew or didn't get the amnesia at all or stayed a villain. Looking at him now, all I see is a boatload of wasted potential.

**Chapter 29: A Broken Past and Quiet Rage**

"-and then I'm going to hang him from the ceiling by his toes like a piñata and beat him until each and every last one of my cards has fallen out!" Cana vowed. Lucy sighed, the brunette had been ranting almost nonstop from the moment that she had woken up to find her precious tarots missing.

"Look, we don't really have time to sit around complaining right now." Levy interjected. "Right now we need to know if you can track your cards from here or if we need go all the way back to the guild to get some trackers. Yes or no Cana?."

"Right, right, sorry. Yeah I can track them. The cards are tuned to my magic so I have a general sense of where they are."

"Great! Figure out which direction and I'll go and rent us a carriage."

"I don't think that's going to work so well…" Levy looked at Cana for a moment before turning to follow her gaze out towards the ocean.

"…a boat then. We need to find someone who can rent us a boat." The two began to look up and down the beach for any sign of a boathouse, leaving Lucy alone to stare at a creaky old dock just a short distance away. Reaching down to her belt she gently fingered one of her golden keys, toying with an idea. Slowly she stepped forward, walking down the dock as she pulled one of the keys from off of the ring. She looked down at the little piece of gold in her palm then down at the water beside her.

Right. Well, in theory there was no reason this shouldn't work.

"OPEN GATE OF THE WATERBEARER! AQUARIUS!" A miniature typhoon erupted from the sea and shot twenty feet up straight into the air. Lucy brought up a hand to block the spray of the sea from her eyes as her strongest spirit and longest companion was summoned forth into the mortal world. A beautiful blue haired mermaid materialized from the water and leveled the blonde with an absolutely frigid glare.

"How is it that you manage to time your summons so that you always get me when I'm out on a date you idiot?"

"But… I never really call you at the same time, and I never call during the times that you specified that I shouldn't. Maybe you just go on a lot of dates?"

"…Did you just imply that I'm easy you little brat?" Lucy immediately started back peddling in a panic.

"No, no I was just saying that you are super social is all! Maybe if you told me when you might be out with your boyfriend then I could accommodate your times better!"

"Hmph. That better have been what you meant." Aquarius fingered her water jug menacingly, before giving a frustrated sigh. "Alright then, why did you summon me here? For once there doesn't seem anybody here trying to kill us, yet you look haggard enough that you clearly aren't calling me just to catch up. Unless you've been letting yourself go even more than usual that is?"

"No, I've got a serious problem actually. We were attacked by a bunch of mages and one of my friends has been kidnapped. They took her out to sea on a boat, I was hoping that you could help us get after them."

"You brought me all the way out here…for transportation." Aquarius hissed angrily, her hair roiling around her head like a hurricane. "You chubby little idiot, do I look like a bus to you? If you want to go across the ocean so bad then go get yourself a boat like a normal person and don't go wasting my time!"

"But…"

"Now unless you have something actually important for me, I have a date to get back to. So until next time-"

"STOP!" Lucy snapped out. Aquarius quirked an eyebrow and stared down at her summoner with an impatient stare.

Lucy took a deep breath.

"Aquarius the water bearer." She began, keeping her voice calm and level. "Years ago, when I first summoned you, we made a contract. You made more demands of me than any other spirit before or since. But I accepted them all. You demanded more days off than any other spirit before or since. But I agreed to your terms. I have honored those terms. Now, on this day, in this place, when I have dire need of your help, I have summoned you to fulfill your oath."

Aquarius had gone still. Behind Lucy, Levy and Cana were doing their best effort to hide behind each other at the same time.

"You made a contract. Honor it." Lucy finished, keeping her eyes locked on the spirit's. She desperately struggled to keep her emotions off of her face, refusing to let what she was thinking show: _I'll leave all my cute clothes to Cana, Levy can have my keys, Natsu can have my mattress, Happy gets nothing._

"… Yes. I did."

Lucy blinked in complete surprise. Aquarius was giving her a smile. The mermaid locked eyes with her summoner and floated down so they were face to face.

"It seems that being around your friends has finally helped you start growing a backbone. I think I'm actually proud, I wasn't sure that this moment would ever happen. It's good to see that you aren't completely useless now."

"Um…thanks…I think." _What was happening?_

"Of course, if you tell any of the others that this ever happened I'm going to be forced to deny it. And then, when you least expect it, I'll make you suffer."

"Right! Got it! Lips are sealed!"

"Good. Now get whoever else is coming so we can get this over with already. At top speed I might even be able to return in time to salvage something of my date."

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"Check."

"So were you expecting me then?" Goku asked, raising his brow.

"Of course!" The man grinned. "A good chess master always knows what his opponent will do long before they even have the chance to decide for themselves." The man paused. "Though, to be fair, I had been assured that you were no longer an issue. Competent help can be so hard to find these days. In fact, I might not have known you were coming at all if you hadn't been tearing through my associates' operations for the last week. While flying on a yellow cloud…there's a thing called subtlety you know."

"Eh, I'll pass. I tried it once and it didn't taste very good."

The man tilted his head to the side and examined Goku through narrowed eyes. "I suppose you think you're funny?"

"Well…"

"Because you are!" The man's grin returned. "I don't suppose you'd like to work with me, would you? You've torn up nine different operations of mine, as well as any competitors you may or may not have knocked off. That would make for one hell of a job interview!"

"I have no interest in working for a slaver. No interest in any job at all really. Well, maybe a farmer…?"

"Oh, don't worry, I wouldn't work for a slaver either. So it's really convenient that I'm not one."

"Not a slaver?" Goku scoffed. "So I suppose all those people I beat up- who were definitely slavers- pointing me to this tower was just a coincidence?"

"Oh course not!" the man agreed. "Suggesting otherwise would be stupid. I absolutely work with slavers. But not because they provide me with slaves, no they give me resources."

"Really? So if I went downstairs to talk to everyone here they would tell me how much they get paid and about their vacation time, not about how they were violently ripped from their homes and are being forced to work here right?"

"You believe that I would man this tower with slaves? Heh, slaves make for poor pawns." He held up one of the pieces from his chess board for emphasis. "You can't do anything without a solid row of pawns. And slaves? You can never be completely sure whether they will make the move you want them to or if they will decide to throw everything they have against your cause. A slave needs to be kept in either a condition of deep fear or poor health to prevent them from revolting, and even then there is always a risk of some fool inspiring hope."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that every last person on this tower is here because they want to. Or at least, they think that they want to. Why would you want a slave when you can have a zealot? Every last person here is utterly devoted to my dream of creating a better world, every last one of them would throw down their lives if it furthered my chances of success. They are so blind, they don't even know of my connections outside of this island at all except that people occasionally show up to drop off food and building materials."

"So what? You've brainwashed them to work for you?"

"Brainwashing seems like such a harsh term. I have merely convinced them that my way is the best way to a brighter future. But now I believe that I have neglected to introduce myself. Where are my manners? My name is Jellal, the master of the Tower of Heaven. The same tower that you are now trespassing upon. Tell me, why is it that you're here?"

"A friend I met recently asked me to help look for her brother. He was taken as a slave ten years ago, so I've been looking for him."

Jellal just stared at him.

"What?"

"You've been charging up and down the coast, attacking my associates right, left, and center, to find a boy who disappeared over a decade years ago?"

"Yep."

"For someone you've only just met?"

"You got it."

"…You make no sense. You're one of those obnoxious players who make all their moves so wildly and idiotically that the people using actual strategy have no idea what you are up to."

"But you knew I was coming."

"I knew you were coming because you seem to be allergic to the concept of stealth. Nothing but destruction in your wake as you tear apart everything in your way."

"Sure, that's one way to phrase it. But the way I see it, I'm ripping down a massive organization that causes nothing but pain and suffering to every person who encounters it. Maybe you've convinced everyone here that everything is fine but I'm sure that the dozens of others you've helped steal from their homes would disagree."

"That's because they don't know any better. They don't know the real monster of this story, the one who is responsible for all of the suffering I was forced to cause as a result of her actions ten years ago. If it wasn't for her I never would have needed to stoop so low in order to finish construction."

Goku frowned at the mention of the date and motioned for Jellal to continue.

"Yes, interesting isn't it how it all comes back to that time isn't it? Quite of a lot of exciting things happened ten years ago. Ten years the original owners of this tower took in their last batch of slaves, the entire population down to the last person was either taken or killed. Or at least, so I thought. What you've told me makes me suspect that might not necessarily be the case. This group include both myself as well as the girl who almost ruined this place. At first I hated my time here and constantly looked for escape. Ten years ago massive rebellion dethroned the rulers and sapped up almost every last resource this place had available in the crossfire. The situation was poor, however it was what opened my eyes to the true potential of this tower. I understand it now better than those original fools ever could have. With this tower, not only will I bring back the greatest sorcerer in all of existence, I will unleash a power that will cleanse all of the darkness from this world!"

"You're insane."

"Yes, that's what all narrow minded fools say about visionaries isn't it? The one who betrayed me thought I was crazy too. When I realized all the good we could do from here and asked her to join me, she rebuffed my request and fled. Fled straight to some pathetic little hillbilly living in the middle of the forest."

"Wait…what?"

"She left all her friends behind, decided that she was too good for us! That she was above us! She never even tried to see the potential of this place, she was completely blind to the brighter future! Such a person, they deserve no place in the new world that I shall unleash! But I admit, I still hold a soft spot for her, enough that I had to include her in some way. So I decided that if she wasn't going to be a part of the revolution, then at the very least she would be the catalyst. Everything that has happened over the last decade, every last misfortune that fell upon the people here and those taken outside, the blame for all of it can be laid squarely at her feet. At the very least she must pay for her sins by ushering in the new age!"

"What the hell do you want with her?"

"Catching on then? Know who I'm talking about? It's ironic isn't it? Without her, none of us would be here today. I never would have gained my new perspective, you likely would never have crawled out of whatever cave she dragged you from, and this girl of yours wouldn't have been able to hunt for her brother and send you my way. Even this confrontation right now would be impossible without her influence. In just a few hours though, all of her wrongs shall be balanced out."

"What did you do damn it!?"

"Fine. Fine. I'll spell it out for you: By the end of the day Erza Scarlet shall be dead."

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Damn it. Just… damn it.

Any chance of a peaceful resolution flew out the window the second Goku burst into the top floor of the tower. Erza knew this, yet she still couldn't bring herself to attack Simon or any of the others around her. No matter what they thought about her she still cared about them and she owed them for leaving them behind. So as they grabbed her and started dragging her into the tower, despite what she knew had to be happening up at the top, she still couldn't convince herself to attack them. So she waited as they dragged her up through the docks area and to the stairs, taking her up the familiar path to the sleeping quarters. Sho kept shooting her looks that seemed equal parts hopeful and terrified the whole way but everyone else seemed to be completely ignoring her existence. That was fine with her, the less they wanted to do with her the less likely they were to stick around once they locked her away in whatever dungeon they had prepared for her, and the quicker she could escape to determine what was happening.

Finally the group came up to a dark wooden door and Simon began fishing around on his belt for a key. When the door opened Erza marched right in and walked straight over towards the large column that filled the center of the room. She held up her arms calmly, waiting for Simon to link her handcuffs to the many loops of chain that were sprawled haphazardly around the room. Instead though Simon motioned for the rest of the group to enter the room as well. The three exchanged quick glances before they entered the room as well, allowing Simon to close the door behind them. The muscled teen look around the room, meeting the eye of each and every occupant before his posture collapsed. With a heavy groan Simon leaned back against the cold brick wall. All of the tension and anger bleeding out and leaving behind a weary, exhausted man.

"Erza is innocent."

The room was absolutely silent.

"Jellal is working with the same slaving trading organization that brought us here."

That one got a reaction.

"But, but that's impossible! Jellal is the one that helped us after she destroyed all of the boats and left us trapped here! He would never do something like that!" Sho stuttered out.

"No. That lie didn't make sense when we first heard it and it doesn't make sense now. Think, Erza had every reason to want to get us off of this island and absolutely no motive for us to stay. She was the one that was trying to get us all off of this island to begin with! Jellal was the one who wanted to stay to continue working on this damn thing! He was the only one who would get something out of this!"

"But…he wouldn't do that to us, would he? Jellal loves us, he's been taking care of us for years! We're his family! Why would you accuse him of something like that?!"

"That's not Jellal. And what has happened here is not only his fault." The words were spoken barely above a whisper, but they contained such venom that the group flinched away from Erza.

"You remember how he took the blame for me right? How he declared himself the leader of our group so that the rest of us wouldn't suffer? When we finally managed to break the guards defensive line and began to clear the tower, the very first thing I did was charge straight in after him. But when I reached him he was…different. Darker. He utterly crushed the two mages that were guarding him with a power that I had never seen before. He was completely beyond my level, beyond the level of every single person in the building. He told me that he wanted to rebuild everything, that he saw the potential of this place and wanted to complete it. He said that he would make sure that nobody would leave, and that everyone here would come to understand his goals. When he asked me to join him I refused and… and I couldn't do anything. I fled like a coward and I left you all here to suffer in my stead. I was going to try and get help but then he said he had ways of watching me…that if I ever told anyone about what happened here he would kill you all. I'm so sorry I just, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't think of any way to help you." The group stayed quiet for a moment, staring passively as tears started to leak down the redheads face. To everyone's surprise though, it was Wally who first chose to speak up.

"You're still dandy Erza. If that's all true then we can't blame you for any of this. But now, I have to ask…" Wally slowly turned to face Simon, his face completely deadpan. "If you knew that Jellal had been corrupted ever since he took power, why haven't you ever mentioned that to us?"

"Hm? I was worried that you would not believe me and that Jellal would find out that I was on to him."

"But…we wouldn't have just turned you in. If you said you have proof we would have listened." Sho stuttered.

"Yeah! Or if you were really that worried about Jellal finding out why didn't you tell us on the boat that Erza was innocent?" Milianna cut in.

"I-"

"WAIT! Why did we kidnap her at all then? We could have just asked her for help or something when we found her instead of beating up all her friends! Oh crap we beat up all her friends!" The catgirl continued.

"Ah! I figured that by leaving her friends behind it would get them to come after us. That way they would pursue us and hopefully help in freeing everyone." Simon's explanation was met with blank stares all around.

"I am a dandy man." Wally drawled out. "As a dandy man, I can tell what is dandy and what isn't. This plan of yours, it is not dandy in the least. You chose to wait for ten years until this place was practically complete before mentioning to anyone that anything was wrong, completely failing to trust that we might believe you. Then you had us smack around a group of girls, hoping that they could somehow track us out her without any sort of indication of where we went instead of just asking said girls and their guild to help us out. And to top it all off you let us believe that one of our best friends had turned her back on us and never tried to tell us any different. That's not dandy Simon. That's not dandy at all."

"All in favor of blaming Simon instead of Erza?" Milliana chirped. Three hands shot into the air. "Great, the motion carries!"

"So…I guess this is why Jellal and Erza never let Simon help too much in any of the escape plans then?" Sho asked timidly. Simon just stared dumbly at them all.

"I never actually thought about it like that…"

"Right! So Erza, what's the plan then?" Erza had been watching the scene before her in a state of numb shock for the last several moments and it took her a while to realize that she had been asked a question. When the thought finally processed through her brain she could only shake her head incredulously.

"You really trust me to be in charge just like that after what I just told you?"

"Well, I think we've already established that Simon isn't dandy enough to be in charge, and the rest of us are no good as leaders. If we're going to trust someone to sort this out, then you're the best one for the job."

"I…I…Thank you." Erza gave the group a wide, genuine smile before she took a deep breath to collect her thoughts.

"The person who broke into the top of the tower earlier is named Goku. He is one of the single strongest mages of my guild and knowing his habits he likely scouted out the room with the strongest people in the tower as his entry point. The fact that there haven't been any giant explosions and that the building still seems to be mostly in one piece means that Jellal hasn't pissed him off enough yet, we don't have much time before that changes. I'd say we have about five minutes to evacuate as many people as we can before the fight will start up and he will need assistance."

"Hey Erza…can your friend win?" Sho asked. Erza furrowed her brow in thought, trying to remember just what Jellal's abilities had felt like all those years ago.

"I don't know. It's been so long since I've seen him and I have no way to gauge how strong he has become…I just don't know." The room was quiet for a moment before Milianna perked up.

"ALRIGHT! You heard the lady team, let's go!" Milianna cheered before grabbing Sho and dashing out the door. Sighing at her antics Wally and Simon quickly dashed out the door as well, leaving Erza by herself. The redhead looked down the hallway out the door then down at the chains still secured around her wrists.

"Right…REQUIP!"

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"Aahhhhh!"

"Aaaahhh!"

"Aaahhhh!"

The three separate shrieks formed a perfect harmony as the Fairies clung to each other and the boat. Aquarius had waited until all three had gotten aboard a tiny dinghy and then immediately summoned a wave that sent it racing across the ocean.

"Hey!" Levy shouted, pulling her face out of Lucy's hair and peering forward, "I see a tower! We're almost there."

"Are we slowing down at all?" Lucy called, her face pressed firmly into Cana's shoulder. "I'm too afraid to look."

"Uh… no."

"I knew that fish lady was gonna kill us!" Cana shrieked, her arm wrapped tightly around Lucy. "Why did you have to call her out like that Lu!?"

"I don't know! For the sake of my dignity as a summoner?"

"Screw dignity, we're gonna die!"

"Brace for impact!" Levy screamed. The three clutched each other even tighter and screamed.

The wave carrying the boat came to a sudden impossible stop an inch above the shore, sending the three flying out of the ship and sprawling on the sand in a tangle of limbs, pain, and curses.

"Ha." Aquarius' voice echoed from the ocean. "Nailed it."

"Hate the fishy lady." Cana mumbled through a mouthful of sand. "Hate her lots."

"Mrpugurg."

"What's that Lu?"

"Erpme."

"Oh wow." Cana laughed; somehow Lucy's hair had got tangled up in the card mage's swimsuit, locking the summoner's face against her chest. "How does that even happen?" Cana grabbed a fist full of Lucy's hair and gently freed her. "You okay Lulu?"

"Yeah." Lucy sighed. "Well, we're here and we didn't drown. What now?"

"We should probably deal with them." Levy said, already on her feet and pointing. Lucy followed her finger and saw a bunch of guys in creepy ropes brandishing weapons and charging at them.

"Wonderful, there's a welcoming committee."

The Fairies readied themselves for the coming fight, but before they could cast a spell there was a flash of light and the charging men disappeared. Where they had been, there were now playing cards scattered across the sand.

"Uhh…" Lucy blinked. "Cana? Did you do that?"

"I don't… think so?" Cana replied uncertainly, approaching one of the cards and nudging it with her toe. "I don't think I can trap people in cards. Maybe I just leveled up or something?"

"Are you three alright?" a voice called, the fairies looked up to see a young man running down the beach, a young man with white hair. "Erza said you would come. We-"

"YOU!" Cana exploded into motion, tackling the boy to the ground in fury. "Gimme back my cards you little brat!" she demanded, punching him.

"Ow! No, wait! Stop! This is a misunderstanding, we're not enemies." The boy protested, struggling beneath Cana's rain of blows.

"Oh sure! Because stealing stuff off people when they're unconscious is something friends do!"

"Get off of Sho!" A blur of brown flashed across the beach and hit Cana, throwing her off the boy. Lucy blinked as a young girl helped the card thief off the ground. "Are you okay Sho? The mean people didn't hurt you did they?"

"Not… too badly." The boy, Sho apparently, wheezed. "Miliana, these are Erza's friends."

"They are!?" Milianna promptly dropped Sho and turned to look at them. "Hi there, Erza's friends!" she waved, beaming. Lucy couldn't help but notice that the girl had two cat ears, in addition to her regular ears. "We're also Erza's friends!" the girl finished.

"Lucy do you have any idea what's going on?" Levy muttered, leaning towards her.

"I thought I did, but it's gone now." Lucy replied. "Do… do we fight them?"

"Now now, let's not fight." a third voice said. There was a staccato of thumps as a bunch of cubes rained down on the sand and formed into an equally blocky man. "It's just not dandy to fight over silly misunderstandings." He tipped his hat to them. "Ladies."

"… hey wait, aren't you the guy who shot us?" Cana demanded getting back to her feet.

The cube man frowned. "It's not dandy to lie, so I will admit it's true. I did hit you with my tranquilizer cube." He bowed. "I must apologize ladies, it was most rude of me to do so."

"So… you didn't mean to attack us?" Levy asked.

"Oh no, I did. It's just we've now found out that we aren't actually enemies. We were tricked into kidnapping Erza and now we're trying to fix our mistake."

Levy and Lucy looked at each other.

"Trap?" Lucy asked.

"Trap." Levy agreed.

As one, they raised their key and quill.

"Wait." a _fourth _voice interrupted. A giant of a man with a metal jaw materialized in front of the cube man.

"Another?" Cana groaned. "Are there any more weirdoes that are going to pop out of nowhere? They can just go ahead and come out now."

"Nope." The cat girl replied. "This is all of us."

"We aren't weirdoes Milly." Said Sho.

"I dunno, when we went to that resort place, I got the feeling we kinda stood out."

"Real dandies stand out and above all the other boorish non-dandy folk." The cube man cut in, nodding sagely.

"Enough." Said the giant. "We don't have time to argue over this, Erza said we need to evacuate the island."

"Oh sure, and I like being sober!" Cana snorted. "You guys are the dumbest group of bad guys I've ever seen. If you really want me to believe you, then gimme back my cards!"

"Fair enough." The giant nodded. "Sho, give her back her cards."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes really." The giant nodded towards Sho, who sheepishly pulled out a deck of cards; slowly he walked forward and held them out. Cana snatched them and furiously began to count them.

Lucy and Levy shared another look. This wasn't going at all how they had expected.

"What now?" Lucy muttered.

"If you ladies would be willing to follow us." Said the giant. "We'll take you to Erza and explain everything. But we need to work quickly, I believe we are under a time limit."

"…Okay fine." Lucy muttered, the fight draining from her. This situation was rapidly becoming too stupid to deal with. Anything to make it start making sense.

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The second Jellal had finished speaking the rest of the power signatures around the room began to move. The nearest one was also the weakest, hiding in the shadows just to the side of where Jellal was sitting. He was introduced to a trio of ki blasts before he even realized that he was under attack and Goku was already turning away to meet the next threat.

A massive owlman with a jetpack strapped to his back came rocketing out from behind and Goku was forced to drop to the ground to avoid being body checked across the room. Rolling sideways to avoid a sword slash from the third assailant Goku whipped out the power pole to the robed girl in the side of the head. The woman rolled back out of the way of the follow-up swing before dashing to form up with her two compatriots. Jellal meanwhile just watched from his chair with an amused smirk at the display.

"I've heard he has the ability to sense people, from his reaction I can see that it is true. Don't bother with stealth attacks, he'll just brush them off." The man advised. "Also, try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum will you. I happen to like my throne room and would like to keep it intact."

The figure from the shadows stepped up to join the woman and the owl man, brushing ash off of his smoldering cloak as he did so. The damaged piece of cloth actually disintegrated under the attempts to clean it, leaving the man in some sort of Goth rocker outfit, complete with makeup and an electric guitar. The man started banging his head to an internal beat, whipping his hair around madly with manic delight. Then with a heavy strum on his instrument his hair shot forward like an array of whips. Goku tumbled out of the way of the first few attacks before he brought the Power Pole before him once more. With the flick of his wrist he sent the staff spinning like a cyclone, flicking away the tangles of hair with ease. The guitarist smiled at the display and licked his lips before sending his hair at the spinning shield once more. This time the whips launched themselves at the pole itself, tying themselves up along its length and forcing it to stay in place. Goku strained his muscles trying to get the rotation back up again all the while ducking and dodging as even more whips cracked around his head. Snarling he planted his feet and twisted his body around, throwing his full weight into the motion. The sudden tug caught the musician off balance and he took a few unstable steps forward. Goku immediately capitalized, launching himself forward at blistering speeds too knock the man backwards straight into his teammates. The woman caught him in midair with one hand before casually dumping him to the side.

The woman tittered, eyeing Goku with excitement. "Oh, how wonderful/ a challenger has appeared/ he shall be all mine." She brushed aside her companions, clearly telling them to stay out of it.

"Actually that's probably for the best." Jellal commented, shuffling some of the pieces on the chessboard left and right. "It seems that my old friends have betrayed me and allied themselves with some new trespassers. Surprise surprise. So if you are so keen on killing this one yourself, then I believe that your friends can best spend their time handling the rest of the rabble." The rocker and the owl looked to the woman for approval. Upon receiving a curt nod the pair bolted, heading straight for the stairs down to the rest of the tower.

The swords mistress nodded to herself as she absently brushed a strand of pink hair behind her ear. Then she leveled her sword towards the warrior with a sly grin.

"I already heard your introduction from earlier, so I suppose that I should at leave have the courtesy of doing the same. I am the leader of the Trinity Raven, the greatest assassination team in Death's Head Caucus. The name is Ikaruga and this is my blade Mugetsu-Ryu. Many of fallen to its edge and no defense has ever stopped its bite. So many have fallen to my first swing; I haven't had any fights long enough to actually enjoy in quite a long time. I truly hope that you will be able to entertain me." She bowed.

"Heh, that's funny. I just met another girl with a sword that was supposed to be able to cut through anything. I wonder what would happen if you two met one another…"

The first blow nearly cut Goku in half. In one second the two were locking stares and the next she was behind him, blade already in motion. Goku tried to throw himself forward out of the weapons path but not quickly enough to completely evade the blow. As the weapon carved a bloody furrow into his back he choked back a cry of pain and swing around to unleash a barrage of ki blasts. Ikaruga batted the attacks aside with ease and then charged forward with a straight thrust aimed straight at his heart. The Power Pole rose to parry the strike, then the other end came around to crash into the pinkette's gut.

Ikaruga grunted as the blow landed home and a crazy grin formed on her face. Her blade flashed again only to be knocked aside by the staff once more. Goku's retaliatory strike was easily dodge this time as the woman began to pick up speed, slowly driving him back across the room. The equal exchange of strikes quickly fell away to a desperate defense as Goku knocked aside slash after slash with such fierce intensity the floor beneath him began to crack with each step. Ikaruga's smile just continued to get wider and wider the longer that Goku was able to hold her off and survive her sword.

The tipping point came at a moment that neither expected. Ikaruga unleashed a downward strike straight for the top of Goku's head. Goku's previous block had left his weapon in a slightly awkward position to counter the blow with another parry so instead he brought the weapon straight up, horizontal to the attack to try and block. The sword flashed through the air and met the magical staff.

And sheared it in half.

For a moment, everything stopped. Then a sudden blast of reddish energy burst from the weapon, throwing the combatants away. Goku got to his knees, staring in disbelief at the two pieces of wood clutched in either hand. As he watched, the red bled out of it, leaving behind a pair of ordinary sticks.

"Grandpa Gohan." He murmured, his eyes welling with tears.

"Oh dear, such sorrow/ a momento of the past/ lost and forgotten."

Anything that he might have wanted to say was swallowed up into a choked grunt of rage. Dead eyes rose from the ruined weapon to meet the gaze of the still grinning assassin as she sauntered her way back to the middle of the room.

"So worn and broken/ a face of such great lament/ you shall join it soon." Goku failed to respond. His right hand slowly curled into a fist and rose to the side of his hip. With no visible effort he focused his power and willed to life a massive white aura that surrounded his entire body. Tiny flecks of red occasionally danced into view around the field of energy and the air around the room began to swirl around the room as though a great wind had been unleashed within the enclosed room. Ikaruga moved to charge forwards but the instant she collided with the surging power she was blown backwards across the room. Twisting in midair she managed to land on her feet and brought the blade up in front of her into a defensive stance.

Just as quickly as it had appeared the whirling surge of energy seemed to fade. The room quieted and all sighs of the disturbance had vanished. Then Ikaruga took note of Goku's fist. His right hand had not moved from its position, but now it was wreathed in a golden glow. The swords mistress narrowed her eyes and licked her lips. Goku stood passively watching her. She slid one foot slowly forward and brought the blade up into the air. Goku didn't even twitch.

Ikaruga blasted across the room at max speed with every intention of slicing her opponent's head clean off. It wasn't until she was just a few feet away that Goku finally reacted and she realized just how much danger she was in.

"Dragon Fist."

The glowing hand slammed into Ikaruga's sword and shattered it instantly on contact. The force unleashed from the collision shattered every piece of glass on the tower and knocked the majority of the occupants off their feet and sent them bouncing across the ground. The real danger though came from the energy that had suddenly been unleashed. The maw of a massive golden dragon burst forwards and collided with Ikaruga with such force that it carried her straight across the room and through the wall. Hundreds of feet above the sea the assassin could do nothing but scream in pain right up until the moment the attack finally punched straight through her chest and vaporized her heart and lungs. The blood that was shot into the air instantly boiled as it came into contact with the intense energy and by the time Ikaruga's body finally hit the water below she was already long dead.

Goku slowly turned to face Jellal even as the blue haired sorcerer finally rose from his throne.

"Last chance to surrender."

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: AS THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOKU AND JELLAL KICKS OFF, LUCY CANA AND LEVY FIND THEMSELVES PINNED DOWN UNDER THE ASSAULT OF A PAIR OF DEADLY ASSSASSINS AND LEFT BEHIND BY ERZA AS SHE RUSHES FOR THE TOP OF THE TOWER. MEANWHILE, THE MAGICAL COUNCIL UNKNOWINGLY SETS A TIMELIMIT FOR OUR HEROES…

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: THE ROCKSTAR AND THE QUIET KILLER!

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Alright guys, it is now time to play guess that writer! We are going to show you an omake and you have to guess which one of us wrote it when you post your reviews. Ready? Begin!

Omake by ? featuring TFS references

Goku's eyes darted back and forth between the three assassins spread out in front of him.

"All right…so which one's which?"

"Ah, introductions of course!" Jellal chuckled. "That's the second time I've forgotten today, how unfortunate. Very well, the girl-"

"Oh, I don't really need to know their names. They're the three throwaway sidekicks before the real battle starts. Levy's always told me that every cliché villain has the same three throwaway sidekicks."

"I'm cliché?"

"Levy made me a checklist to see if storybook villain clichés can translate over to real life. So far I have 5 checked off. You live in at the top of an evil tower in a dark, shadowy room with a huge throne and a chessboard. The 3 sidekicks makes 5. So, which one's which?"

"…What kind of options am I looking at here?"

"The dumb strong one, the pretty one, and the one with the weird powers."

"Huh… well I guess the one with the sword is the pretty one by default with this crowd. But she's also the strongest, so I'm not quite sure. She does sound pretty stupid when she is talking with those haikus…yeah let's go with her for that category. Let's see, pretty one next." Jellal gave the rocker a once over.

"Hard no there. You know, owls are known to be very beautiful birds when the blood of their enemies isn't dripping down their beaks and talons so let's call him the pretty one. That makes Mr. Music the one with the weird powers?"

"Really? I thought the owl guy was a shoe in for that."

"Not really. He just flys around, eats people and then gets stronger for it. Seems like a typical owl thing to me…mostly. But the guitarist here uses his hair as whips and can drain any liquid away with it."

"Okay, that's pretty strange. But I'm still not sure. Just last month I fought a girl who wore ribbons for clothes and used them as weapons."

"So she was basically just stripping herself every time she attacked you? I want your life."

"No, they kinda just extended a lot."

"A shame. Well, the rocker also has mind control music that will allow him to brainwash any girl who hears it into his own groupie love slaves."

"What's a groupie? Is that like a fanboy?"

"Close enough."

"Alright, he wins then. Okay, owl is the pretty one, rocker is the one with the weird powers and the girl is the dumb strong one. Gotcha! Alright, fight time!"


	31. The Rockstar and the Quiet Killer

**Chapter 30: The Rockstar and the Quiet Killer!**

The meeting hall of the Magic Council had fallen silent. The threat that was beyond anything that any of them had ever gone up against before, they had lived through years of relative peace with the occasional mild crisis thrown in now and then to spice things up. Now though…the fate of the entire world could rest upon their decision.

"Before we cast our vote I feel there is one more thing that you all must be aware of." Siegrain said, his head bowed and voice grave. "This tower… I know who is responsible for its creation. A decade ago my twin brother was abducted from our family's home and dragged out to sea to serve as a slave. The people within the tower twisted his mind and tortured him to the point that when they fell he actually replaced them. My brother…Jellal…he is the one who is trying the end the world. I tell you this not so you pity me, but so you can truly understand just how dire the situation is.

One of the older members let out a heavy sigh and looked out across the room.

"To find out what has happened to your missing sibling after all this time, only to discover that he has been so corrupted that he intends to resurrect the darkest mage of all time, despite your words I can't help but feel sorry for what has happened to you. But if you truly believe that this is the only option and you are willing to sacrifice your family to protect the world, I at least shall stand with you. I vote that we fire Etherion immediately."

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Jellal stared out the charred hole in his tower where his strongest minion had blasted through. Then he looked at the spiky haired teen scowling before him with his still steaming fist cocked back at his hip. Then he looked down at the chessboard in front of him and casually flicked one of the pieces onto the floor. Finally he looked back at Goku again and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Talk about blowing your load early. You just wasted about half your power right there. If you're going to try and make someone surrender, it's normally a better idea to make sure that you actually have the upper hand. With the little amount of power you have left right now it'll be more like swatting a bug than an actual fight."

"If that's the case, why bother talking about it? Swatting a bug isn't satisfying, it's just something you do. If it wasn't an issue, you wouldn't be gloating."

"…"

"But you can't do it can you? I can sense that you're strong, maybe even stronger than me when I'm fresh… But right now you can't fight at full power can you? You're projecting about half of your power across the ocean instead. I don't know what you are using it for right now, but if you could bring it back safely right now to beat me you would. Right now our power levels are about equal and it's all going to come down to who can last longer. And if you really have been studying me, then you should know that I'm pretty darnstubborn."

"Oh ho ho! Getting a bit cocky are we? I think you might be underestimating me a bit there. Though now I'm afraid that you have peaked my curiosity. Just how have you managed to tell that I only have half my power? I've been around enough sensors to know that being one isn't enough to see through my technique. So how can you tell?"

"You can blame that on Jose. He tried something very similar when I fought him, caught me completely off guard too. Now that I know what I'm looking for though, it's only really an issue if you managed to bring yourself back up to full power. So all I have to do now is take you down before you can do that."

"A time limit huh? Sounds exciting. I hope you don't mind if we spread the tension around a bit, do you?"

"Yes. Yes I do mind."

"Hmm. Shame about that."

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"…"

"…"

"…"

Erza snapped her fingers in front of the faces of the rest of the Fairy Tail girls in an attempt to rouse them from their shocked stupors. It took them a few moments but eventually the three were able to pick their jaws up off the ground and reboot their speech centers.

"Dragon. That was a dragon." Levy noted.

"Big dragon. Really big dragon." Lucy agreed.

Cana ignored them both in favor of tentatively putting down a bottle of tequila that she had pulled out while helping to evacuate the builders and slowly stepping away from it. Lucy noticed the relatively calm if somewhat anxious expression on Erza's face and shoved her finger in the redheads face.

"Erza! Explain now! What the hell was that?"

"Unless I am not very much mistaken, I believe it was Goku."

"Oh, that makes sense," Lucy nodded, "…Wait, no it doesn't! Why the hell is Goku here?"

"I have absolutely no idea, I merely saw him break into the top of the tower as I arrived."

"Must be one hell of a fight if he's throwing around attacks like that up there. Think we should go back him up?" Cana asked.

"I intend to go up there myself. However, given our track record, that will only serve to escalate the collateral damage. If we don't evacuate the tower, a lot of people will die."

"…I know you're trying to do the noble thing and not worry right now," said Levy. "But Erza, the last time Goku tried to use a technique like that, it was against _Gildarts._ Goku's not invincible, he's going to need help."

"But the rest of the people-"

"Erza just go." Levy insisted, rolling her eyes and pushing the knight towards the stairs. "We'll evacuate the people no problem. Now get going, there are a lot of stairs between here and the top."

"I…right. Thank you!" And then Erza was gone in a blur of red.

"Does anyone else think Erza's acting weird?" Cana asked. "I mean, I know Erza probably has a lot of experience in needing to think about evacuating people when she levels a town or something. But I would have bet good money that her first priority would be making sure Goku was okay."

"It's not really that simple…" The girls turned to Sho slowly approaching them. His eyes were turned towards the ground and his arms were wrapped protectively around himself as though to ward off a blow.

"I think she's afraid of what she's going to find once she gets up there. Two people that she has known and fought alongside before are up there trying to kill each other. When she arrives who knows what kind of condition they will be in? She already said she isn't sure that she can beat Jellal, and if she can't then how can anyone else expect too?"

"I feel that I'm missing some backstory here but I can tell you right now that anyone that Erza can take, Goku can too. The two of them are part of a three way tie for third strongest mage in Fairy Tail."

"WHOA!" Milliana burst onto the scene with her ears twitching in excitement even as her tail continued to wave the next batch of victims towards the boats.

"You're serious! That's so cool! Have they fought before? Who do you think is stronger?" Cana and Lucy looked at the girl incredulously while Levy adopted and thoughtful expression.

"Lauxus, then Goku, then Erza."

"Bullshit!" Cana quickly jumped in. "Erza could kick either one of their asses. And if we dangle some food in front of Goku's face at the start of the fight then Lauxus goes down in 5 seconds."

"Are…are you two serious right now?" Lucy asked in wide eyed disbelief. "Is this really the time to be debating this?"

"Better now than if we were trying to eat or sleep or study or something. At this point we are basically traffic directors. So it's either mindless banter to ignore the fight to the death above our heads, or we rush up the stairs to join in. Your pick!" Cana teased.

"…I'd take Goku over either one of them. He took down an S class mage and helped blow up a giant monster flute thing in the first hour that I met him."

"Now you're getting it! No we just have to wait for everything to wind down up there and everything will be all good!"

**"ATTENTION INTRUDERS!" **A massive voice suddenly reverberated through the entire tower. Levy smacked Cana in the back of the head.

"Way to jinx it!"

**"I HAVE BEEN HAVING A COMPLETE BLAST UP HERE SO FAR WITH THIS GOKU GUY, BUT I FEEL THAT THE REST OF YOU MUST BE FEELING PRETTY LEFT OUT DOWN THERE. I MEAN, HERE WE ARE APPROACHING OUR FINALE, BUT MOST OF YOU HAVEN'T EVEN THROWN A PUNCH! SO I'VE SENT DOWN A COUPLE OF MY FRIENDS TO KEEP YOU COMPANY. THEY SHOULD BE ARRIVING ANY MINUTE NOW. AND AS A BONUS, I SEEM TO HAVE SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF THE MAGICAL COUNCIL. THEY'RE PLANNING ON FIRING ETHERION. SO WE ALL HAVE ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE IT'S ALL OVER ANYWAY. SO HAVE FUN WITH THAT. AND ERZA…I'M WAITING FOR YOU."**

** "BIG BANG ATTACK!"**

** "WAIT WHAT?"**

Another blast rocked the tower and tiny showers of debris began to sprinkle down across the small docking area. The three girls ignored the commotion in favor of arming themselves. With cards, golden keys, and scarlet quivers in hand the girls darted towards the cavern exit as Levy shouted over her shoulder.

"Make sure that you get everyone out! We'll do a quick sweep to make sure that we didn't miss anybody! Keep the boats ready, we're going to need to book it out of here!"

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Jellal was flat on his back, staring at the ceiling of his personal chamber. He coughed up a lung full of dust from the remains of his throne and sighed.

"You know, it's considered to be very rude to interrupt someone when they are on a call."

"You set me on fire."

"But did I interrupt you when you were trying to talk? Your manners are atrocious, you really were raised in the boonies weren't you?"

"…I really don't like you."

"Now _that's_ just hurtful. **METEOR!"** Engulfing himself in a blazing golden light Jellal shot forward like a bullet and decked Goku straight across the room. Rebounding off the wall Goku launched himself right back into the fight and landed an axe kick that dropped Jellal face first into the ground. The dark mage came up swinging and Goku dodged and weaved around the blows with expert precision.

"When I get my full powers back we'll see if you're still this quick on your feet!"

"Maybe someday we can have a rematch when we're both at our bests, but today I'm going to make sure you're too injured to even think about moving long before that ever happens!"

"Heheh…we'll see about that hillbilly. We'll see."

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The girls had made it all of five feet down the hall when a huge feathered figures burst out of a side passage, snagged Levy by the back of her shirt and flew away again. Before Cana and Lucy could even think of reacting the floor gave out from underneath them and the pair tumbled down into darkness.

Lucy shrieked from the sudden fall only grew even louder when she felt something grab her.

"Calm down Lu, it's me. Hold on tight." Cana reached held up a card and threw it beneath them. "**Card magic: Inverted Fall!" **

Lucy felt herself begin to slow, like a great big pillow of air had built up beneath them, until they finally touched down lightly on the ground.

"Are we safe? I don't want to open my eyes."

"Course we are Lu."

"Oh. Good." Lucy opened her eyes, it didn't make much a difference, everything around was pretty dark. "So that card was new."

"The Inverted Fall? Not really, I've had it for ages. I've just never used it, I don't really make a habit of falling off of cliffs."

"Then how did you even know it was going to work?"

"Hey, I'm the card mage aren't I?"

"I guess so. What would have happened if you'd accidently thrown it upside down?"

"We would have hit the ground twice as hard."

"… I…wish I hadn't asked."

"Hey Lu, do you hear that?"

Lucy paused, straining her ears against the silence. Now that Cana mentioned it, she could hear some kind of noise. It was a buzzing, as though something was getting jammed into an electrical socket. It was also gradually getting louder and louder.

"OH YEAH! TIME FOR HELLLLLLLL!" The scream left the Fairies wincing as a trail of lights suddenly ignited, leading up to a stage. A pair of fireworks went off behind it, nearly blinding the girls. On the stage there was a figure that was clearly trying to rock out on his guitar. In reality though it looked more like he was just jumping up and down and slapping the instrument instead of playing it.

"I AM VIDALUS TAKA! WELCOME TO HELL MY LOVILIES!"

"WHAT?" Lucy screamed, her hands pressed against her ears.

"I SAID WELCOME TO HELL!"

"WE CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Cana yelled. "COULD YOU STOP TRYING TO MURDER THAT GUITAR FOR TWO SECONDS?"

"OKAY FINE! BUT ONLY SO I CAN TELL YOU THAT I'M SENDING YOU TO HELL!" mercifully the man stopped 'playing'. As the echoes of his 'music' died away, Lucy finally managed to focus on getting a good look at him.

…Wow. That was _a lot_ of makeup. And hair, seriously, this guy had nicer hair than she did. That just wasn't fair.

"This guys an enemy right?" Cana asked eyeing, the man with a sort of vague interest.

"YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT BABY! IMMA SEND YOU BOTH STRAIGHT TO HELL!"

"Okay, just checking." Levy pulled out a card and threw it at him. The card hit him in the face and discharged a burst of electricity.

"OH HELLLLLLL!" the man screamed staggering backwards, his hair standing on end, which considering how long it was, made him look like some kind of giant fluffy porcupine.

"Cana!"

"What? Just look at this guy, I guarantee he has some kind of freaky power. The weirder a bad guy looks the more messed up their powers tend to be. I'm not waiting for him to use it on us. That would be dumb."

'I mean, yeah, but-"

** "**OKAY, THAT EARNED YOU A ONE-WAY TRIP TO HELL!" the man screamed blasting out several chords on his guitar. At the same time, his hair shot forward, wrapping around Cana and pulling her towards him.

Lucy tried to pull out a key, but his hair took a swipe at her, knocking her off her feet. She forced herself back up, the sound of Cana's screams spurring her onward. But before she could summon anyone, her friend's screams stopped.

Lucy blinked, the man's hair had released Cana and she looked… different. Her skin had become milky white like the rockstar-wannabe's, her clothes… okay they were about as skimpy as her usual outfit, but Cana would never wear _that_ much black leather.

"Yeah yeah, bitch I'm gonna send you straight to hell!" Cana shouted, banging her head as the man started strangling his guitar again.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Lucy sighed. "Okay, weirdo look equals weirdo power. Got it. Next time listen to Cana and just drop Tauros on his head."

"HEH HEH…I COULD'VE JUST BLASTED YOU BOTH WITH THAT, BUT THEN WHO WOULD BE AROUND TO ENTERTAIN ME? OKAY, MY LOVILY, GO GET HER! I WANNA SEE A GOOD OLE CATFIGHT: CLOTHES FLYING, HAIR PULLING, AND LOTS OF TOUCHING!"

"…and he's a pervert. Great. I need a bath."

"Oh yeah! Sounds like a hell of a time!" Cana screamed charging at Lucy. Lucy sighed, and raised a key, "Sagittarius! Shoot the guy with the guitar!"

"Yes ma'am!" The man in the horse costume appeared and launched several arrows in quick succession.

"Oh hell no bitch! **Card magic: Bullseye**!" a red dot materialized in the air above Cana, and the arrows did an about-face, slamming through the dot and nearly hitting Sagittarius.

"Oh dear. I believe I missed."

"Take this bitch!" Cana tackled Lucy to the ground and started tearing at her clothes.

"Oh come on Cana! This outfit was expensive! Sagittarius, shoot the guy!" Lucy shouted, pushing upwards and rolling so Cana was the one on bottom. She just needed to keep Cana busy until guitar guy was down. That would probably break the spell. If not, she could just trap Cana in Horologium or something until it wore off.

"Yes ma'am!" there was the twanging of the bowstring. "Ma'am, he appears to be catching my arrows with his hair."

"Oh course he is." Lucy muttered, recoiling as Cana tried to bite her. The brainwashed girl seemed to be following the musician's commands to the letter, she was more concerned in making the fight look hot than actually winning. Otherwise the cards would come out and Lucy held no illusion that she could win if Cana went all out.

"HAHA! YOU AREN'T GOING TO BEAT ME LIKE THAT GIRLY, MY HAIR CAN STOP ANYTHING!"

"Ma'am! He has now wrapped me in his hair… urk… he is also crushing me… what should I do?"

"Just go home! I'll think of something else." Lucy yelped, wincing as Cana wrapped a fistful of her hair and yanked.

"Cana stop! You don't want to do this!" Lucy whined.

"Bitch, I'm gonna rip all your clothes off and spank you straight into hell!

"OH YEAH, THIS IS GETTING HOT AS HELL!" The man started banging his head and wailing on his guitar _again,_ as if she didn't have enough problems. Who could she use? Taurus? No, he'd probably just join rocker guy in enjoying the show. Leo? No, he was still recovering from his near death experience. Oh… wait… duh. Cancer!

Magical scissors should wrap up this fight fairly quicky. Now if only Cana could stop groping her for five seconds so she could grab the key!

Cana managed to get the upper hand and tossed Lucy down. With a running leap she crashed on top of the blond, pinning Lucy's arms to her the ground. Cana's pale face loomed over Lucy's, grinning manically. "Give it up bitch! I'm gonna make you beg for mercy!"

"HELL YEAH GIRL! GIVE IT TO HER, AND THEN I'LL MAKE HER MY SLAVE TOO AND WE'LL ROCK OUR WAY STRAIGHT TO HELL!"

With her arms and legs pinned Lucy could do nothing but struggle uselessly as Cana pumped herself up for the final blow. She had no tricks and no options. Without some sort of immediate distraction the fight was over.

"Any last words bitch?" Cana grinned, her face hovering over Lucy's.

Lucy shoved her face forward locking her lips against Cana's.

Cana froze, her face going blank.

"…Oh hell yes." The guitar guy muttered.

Lucy took advantage of the sudden slackness in Cana's body to throw her off. Grabbing the key she screamed. "**Gate of the Crab: Cancer**!"

The crab materialized in a burst of starlight. "Yes, Lucy!"

"Snip and Clip!" Lucy shouted, jabbing her finger at the guitar guy.

"Shrimp!" The crab shot forward, his scissors opening and shutting like a promise of doom. Vidalus snapped out of his stupor and rallied his hair, only for it to be cut to ribbons in the crabs wake. There was a brilliant flash of light, and guitar guy fell to the ground, his head as shiny and smooth as a baby's bottom. He wriggled helplessly, foaming at the mouth, and went still.

There was a second flash of light from Cana, her clothes going back to normal as color returned to her skin.

"Ugh, Lu what happened? I feel like I have the worst hangover right now. I don't even _get_ those." Cana groaned, clutching at her head. She opened her eyes and glanced around. "Oh hey, did we win."

"Yeah, we did." Lucy replied, not trusting herself to say anything else.

"Cool." Cana took a closer look at her friend. "Say Lu, you don't look so good, your clothes are all torn up and your lips are all red. What happened while I was out?"

"Nothing happened."

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm not saying it's a bad look for you, but you look kind of rattled. What did that guy do?"

"Nothing happened!" Lucy insisted, her face turning red as a tomato, "Absolutely nothing!"

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"Aren't you supposed to be an owl you jerk? Why the hell are you using a jetpack?!" Levy screamed as she was dragged through the tower.

"Hoo!" Was her response,. Levy let out a load groan, why did she always have to fight the people with weird animal obsessions?

"Alright no, this is so not happening." Levy brought her pen up, quickly analyzed their flight path, and then unleashed a spell with a flourish of the feather quill. The magic flew in front of them a few dozen feet before it exploded outwards to spell the word **Malfunction. **The moment the pair passed through the field the jetpack cut short as a shower of sparks began to form up and down its length. With a loud screech the owl man dropped Levy and began flailing around at his back in a desperate attempt to rip the rocket from his back. He managed to get free just as the jetpack propelled itself straight into one of the tower walls where it exploded in a ball of flame. The assassin managed to twist himself around in the air so ride the shockwaves to the ground before turning to see Levy standing below him determinedly with her pen glowing crimson in her hand.

"I can honestly say that I never expected to have to use this when I was on my vacation. But I'm on a bit of a time limit here so I don't really have any other options at the moment. Sorry about this… **Primal Scripture: Awaken!**"

The massive phoenix surged from her hand and ignited the air as it blazed towards the owlman. He cocked his head to the side as the attack approached before he simply leapt straight up into the air over the attack. The firebird continued onwards until it crashed into the steel wall and splashed out as a massive wave of flames that consumed half of the room. Levy shielded her eyes from the blinding light as she tried to look through the smoke and flames for her target. As her eyes gradually adjusted she could see the man standing uninjured directly across from her with his back to the flame. The light from the blaze cast his entire body in a shadow that covered all his features. Levy was left facing what looked like the hollow outline of a man, a monster straight out of a children's book.

"I am Fukuro of Trinity Raven." A deep voice reverberated through the room. "I am a warrior of Justice, and for breaking the rules of this place you shall die."

"Rules? What rule would that be then? Did I forget to wipe my feet before I stepped into your tower of doom?"

"You went over the authorized speed limit in a no wake zone. The penalty is death."

"…Okay, this is just so not fair," Levy groaned. "I came on this dumb vacation to get _away _from all the constant nonsense going on around my guild. I just finished a great big war then I got to spend a few _fun_ weeks trying to keep my friends calm while we rebuilt the guild hall. Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to get my friends to build something instead of breaking it? It goes against their every instinct as Fairies. Then, I hear I get to spend a week at a beach resort and I couldn't pack fast enough. It was great for all of six hours and next thing I know there's some owl man yelling at me about water speed limits when a space satellite is currently flying around somewhere to nuke this place, and consequently, ME. I just wasted my trump card because, quite understandably, I'm in a hurry! And now I'm fighting an assassin who got notoriety for EATING everyone that was an actual threat to him. I am so done. Just come at me already." Levy held her quill at the ready.

"Hoohoo!" He exclaimed, creepily rotating his owl head until it was almost upside down." You know hoo I am?"

"You have a wanted poster, I can read. Maybe if you had an iota of stealth like a real owl you wouldn't have your poster plastered up all over the place.

With a furious hoot, Fukuro darted forward and buried his fist into Levy's gut. The blow lifted her off her feet and he followed through with a hi-kick that slammed into her stomach. He silently watched her roll across the ground with his hands on his hips.

"Justice is unstoppable!" He exclaimed, nodding in approval. "No villain escapes it, whether they are brawlers or blasters or brains they all go down! HOOO!"

"…Hate you…*koff* *koff*…hate you lots…"

"Of course you hate me! Filthy rule breakers always hate it when they are held accountable for your crimes!" Fukuro cheered as he reached down to lift the girl up by her hair. As his hand closed Levy's own shot out and wrapped around his wrist with surprising strength. With a hard jolt the girl pulled the mutant in range of a massive uppercut that sent him spinning end over end across the room. The bluenette rose to her feet with the glowing word of **Strength** fading from her arm, the magic already exhausted.

"Okay...just like you practiced." She murmured to herself. "Brief bursts of action, save power where you can, finish as soon as possible. Alright." Wiping bit of blood that had pooled away from the corner of her mouth, Levy drew her pen and stared across the room towards the dying flames that still shrouded most of the room in fumes.

"Come at me." Like a wraith he burst from the flames with streamers of smoke still billowing around him. A flick of her wrist had the word **Speed **appear on each calf and then she was moving, blurring herself just out of range of the first attack even as the magic was already fading. **Fireball **was next but was easily batted to the side by the assassin as he charged and once again Levy was forced to launch herself out of range. **Ice **was next, follow by **Stone **and **Wind**. After that first moment of surprise though Fukuro was fighting more cautiously, analyzing her moves even as she analyzed his and the two were locked in a hit and run fight around the smoldering chamber. Both of them came to the same conclusion fairly quickly at almost the exact same moment.

Levy did not have the stamina, the speed, nor the power output to win. Minutes later when she noticed that she wasn't as injured as she should have been and was struck by a second realization. Fukuro liked to play with his food.

Throughout the battle, despite her best efforts she was still racking up injuries. Dodging just a second too late, reacting just a moment too soon, and trying to charge up for just that extra half second. Each and every error earned her a new wound, yet not a single one was as damaging as the initial exchange. He had not gone for a single crippling attack since the beginning, instead she was experiencing death by a thousand cuts first hand and she was desperately wracking her brain for a solution. The fight had already eaten up more than half of her allotted time before the blast would hit and if she wanted to be able to escape in time the fight needed to end now. For some reason though, every single one of her attempts to find a solution sent her brain towards one person. Natsu.

_Arrgh! Stop it brain! I can't fight like Natsu, we are literally exact opposites! Right now this guy is fighting far more like Natsu than I-oh. Right. Okay, how does a weaker opponent usually beat Natsu?_

Ego. Piss him off then watch him beat himself.

"How the hell are you supposed to be one of the best assassins on the planet?" She gasps out. "In terms of raw power I'm the single weakest member of my guild that's here right now. If you can't even take me out, how are you planning on beating Erza or Goku? I bet either one of them could wipe the floor with you in under a minute. You're a one trick pony and I blew up the only thing that makes you special."

_Good job brain. That should do it. _

Then Fukuro kicked her so hard in the stomach that just for a moment she thought that she could feel his heel tickling her spine. She watched in what felt like slow motion as a blot of blood escaped her lips and landed squarely on the assassin's chest. The man looked down curiously at the splotch of red and dabbed at it with his finger. After sniffing it like a connoisseur would an eloquent dish he gingerly brought the sample to his lips and gave it a slow lick.

"Ho-Hoo." He chuckled darkly. "That is hardly a difficult challenge for the forces of Justice to overcome. Once I devour you your power will become my power. Then I'll go consume those other two girls for good measure and your friends upstairs will stand no chance. If they even survive that long to begin with that is. Villains like you don't last long once the brilliant powers of Justice are shined upon them. You taste so sweet already, this shall be a nice treat for the hero saving the day. Levy shuddered as the man's jaw unhinged and stretched out to a ridiculous size, easily enough to swallow her up in a single bite. The man's meaty hand closed around her throat and pulled her closer to his maw as Levy raised her pen once more.

**Glue Bomb!**

Point blank, dodging was never even a possibility. Fukuro gagged in surprise as his mouth was suddenly filled with glue. He gnashed his beak helplessly and tried to pull at the substance with his hand but his mouth was completely filled, only to get his hand stuck in it as well. He dropped her to the ground and fell to his knees, hopelessly gagging as clutched at his throat. If he calmed down enough he would have eventually realized that only his mouth was filled, that he could still somewhat breathe through his nose. Levy made sure he never had the opportunity. With blurry eyes the girl dragged herself up to her knees and reached out with her pen for the last time. She had just enough focus to write the word through what she assumed to be a concussion and placed it right on his forehead.

**Lightning. **

Fukuro screamed in pain as arcs of electricity danced across his body before he tumbled backwards in a twitching heap. Breathing a sigh of relief Levy finally allowed her consciousness to fade away. Her body was completely spent and she had no power left. She'd just have to trust her friends to save her instead.

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Erza Requiped the Flight Armor the moment the announcement had finished. Despite her best efforts though, travelling up a hundred- story building without a direct path straight up the tower still burned through around fifteen of her allotted twenty minutes to try and reach the top of the tower. The entire way up she was running through dozens of scenarios in a hopeless attempt to try and prepare herself for what she might see when she finally arrived at the top.

Some of these visions were hopeful. Goku would be standing there uninjured with an unconscious Jellal over his shoulder and would help her hop up onto the Nimbus so they could escape long before the blast arrived.

Some were the complete opposite. Jellal would meet her at the door with his hands soaked in blood and Goku's mutilated body lying in pieces behind him. Every time that kind of image popped into her head she would ruthlessly stomp it down and refuse to acknowledge it again. No matter how much she tried to prepare herself she was almost positive that Goku would find some insane way to surprise her the moment she tried to enter the fray.

When she finally reached the door into the command chamber she paused and quickly racked her brain as to her best armor option to enter with. She had been so focused on what was going on during the ride up that she had never even considered what she herself would do. After a moment of hesitation she decided to go for broke.

The massive spiked blade of the Purgatory Armor made short work of the door, reducing it down to nothing more than a pile of splinters with a casual swing. She marched into the room with her blade held one handed by her side.

For all intents and purposes the room had been completely annihilated. The side of the room was covered in cooling melted metal from Goku's insane attack, every surface was littered with blast marks and almost every single piece of furniture lay in ruin. The only thing intact in the entire room that she could see was an old chess set on a table beside what looked like the remains of a throne. None of that truly caught her attention however. Instead, her eyes were immediately drawn to a very familiar pole lying on the ground in pieces.

"Hi Erza! Heads up! BUMP!" Erza's eyes snapped across the room to see a pained looking Jellal flying straight at her out of nowhere. Unconsciously falling in step with Goku's shout she swung her free hand into a devastating uppercut that knocked her old best friend back across the room towards the ceiling.

"SET!" Goku appeared spinning in midair just a few feet above where Jellal was set to hit the far wall and allowed gravity to start pulling him back down. He rotated once, twice, before the heel of his foot came down into a bone crushing axe kick that slammed right into the back of the dark mage's head.

"SPIKE!" Jellal hit the ground hard and moaned slightly as he tried to get back up to his feet. Goku was on him before he had time to recover, lifting him straight off the ground by his shirt and slamming him up against the wall. Goku watched the man for a moment as his head rolled back then turned his head towards Erza with a little grin.

"You're even later than you were last time Erza! If you want to get a good fight in you have to be faster than that!" It took Erza a few moments to actually process his words. Both Goku and Jellal were battered and bruised, their clothes were torn and spots of blood covered each to the point that it was impossible to tell who was actually worse off.

"I-ah. Right. I shall endeavor to be faster the next time." She tried to joke. She even managed a bit of a smile.

"Good! Cause at the rate we've been going lately I haven't had time to do any big eating lately! In fact-ARRRRGGHHH!"

"You should really do a better job paying attention." Jellal snarled. His hand was wrapped tightly around Goku's throat, injecting a strange pattern of glowing red lines straight into his skin. The magical tattoo wrapped itself all the way around Goku's body, triggering each and every nerve ending that he had until he collapsed to the ground twitching in pain. Jellal calmly dusted himself off and turned to look at the Erza's horrified form.

"There we go, the opening act is all wrapped up. What do you say we move on to the main event?"

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: FOR A DECADE HER PAST HAS HAUNTED HER…TORTURED HER. FOR A DECADE SHE WAS NEVER ABLE TO TRULY FEEL FREE AND HAS BEEN LOOKING OVER HER SHOULDER FOR WHEN EVERYTHING WOULD ALL COME CRASHING DOWN. NOW…SHE HAS A CHOICE. FIGHT OR FLIGHT. STAND UP FOR HERSELF OR ALLOW HER DEMONS TO CONSUME HER. SHE CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE AS SHE IS, HIDDING HER TRAUMA BEHIND A HAPPY FACE. SHE MUST CHOOSE WHETHER SHE IS ERZA SCARLET…OR SOMETHING GREATER.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION…TITANIA.

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AN: A lot of people have been begging for a kiss during this arc. There, done.


	32. Titania

**AN: **My freaking computer crashed TWICE in the last month as I've been working on this and both times I had to take it in to get fixed. The stupid thing drove me up the wall. The starting and stopping made this chapter feel jerky while writing and I have no idea how that translated in terms of my technique. Hopefully it didn't throw me off my game too badly.

**Chapter 31: Titania**

The three ladies of Fairy Tail arrived at the dock just as the last boat was preparing to push off. Cana and Lucy were practically dragging Levy along between them, her feet were barely moving and her head was rolling around with each step. All three girls looked worse for wear, their clothes were shredded and Lucy and Levy both were bruised and bleeding. As the three made their way over Simon jumped and rushed over. He took Levy from the two struggling girls and leapt back up to deposit her gently atop the deck before turning back to the others as they made their way up the boarding ramp.

"Has there been any sign of Erza?" he asked. Cana groaned loudly and glanced around.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. I was sure she'd be done with the tower nutjob by now".

"Goku might have just grabbed her and left with that cloud of his." Lucy reasoned. "It would probably be a lot faster than trying to climb all the way back down."

"…We cannot risk it. I shall go after them," Simon declared.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Millianna shouted as she leapt in front of Simon. "Do you remember how Jellal trained us to use magic?"

"Milli…"

"Do you?!"

"Milli now's not the time-"

"Cause I do! He'd fight us until he was satisfied we were up to scratch! Do you remember how badly he'd always beat us? You know, all of us at the same time? If you go up there when he's actually trying to kill you, you'll die!"

"For seven years, I have stood by and done nothing to stop him, I will not do nothing now…I'm sorry." Then he was swallowed by shadows.

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"You'll forgive me if I'm a little…furious." Jellal said cheerfully. "It's just that, I had to spend _years_ learning how to use Rune Magic so I could use that spell. Then came the preparation! Months were spent painstakingly painting out each and every line and infusing them with a careful, precise layer of magic to ensure the perfect amount of crippling, relentless pain could be activated with nothing but a thought. I've kept it ready for you for so long, I couldn't wait to use it on you. The look on your face as you suffered was going to be exquisite." Jellal sighed, frowning.

"But then this idiot shows up and ruins it!" Jellal's foot lashed out with enough force to send Goku sailing across the room. He didn't even react to the blow, his body was already locked in such incredible waves of pain that he could barely feel the impact. It did however snap Erza out of her shock.

"Bastard!" Purgatory's war club crashed into Jellal's shoulder hard enough to crack bone. Jellal hissed in pain even as he dodged out of the way of the next swing and took to the air. Erza immediately switch into her Blackwing Armor and followed him into the air, slashing relentlessly as she chased him around the room.

"Two minutes left!" He cackled after a particularly close blow left a stream of blood flowing down his cheek. Erza froze in midair before her eyes darted over towards Goku.

"You are _awfully _quick to forget about those who depend on you, aren't you? It'd be a real shame if you failed to save a second friend atop this tower."

"I tried to save you Jellal! I put everything I had into trying to save you! People died following my lead because I made them fight their way to the top to shut this place down forever rather than letting them flee the moment we had a chance!"

"And yet, if you had shown up five minutes sooner, I wouldn't have become what I am today. I guess your best isn't really all that impressive is it?" Jellal shook his head in mock-disappointment. "One minute to go. I know that you'd never leave here with things as they are, but if you move quickly I'll let you save your friend. Then we can go down in flames together, just the two of us."

Erza snarled and darted back across the room to Goku's side. The massive hole in the wall was just a couple yards away, all she had to do was toss him out of the tower and call for Nimbus. Everything else would sort itself out from there. But as Erza reached down to pick up her crippled friend his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Brown eyes met glassed over black and Goku leaned forward even as his entire body trembled.

"No…chance." He hissed out. With herculean effort he forced himself back up onto his feet and glared at Jellal. A small yellow sphere of Ki wobbled into existence in his palm, barely containing enough power to do more than light up the room. He turned to look Erza dead in the eye forced another breath into his lungs.

"Got your back."

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Getting rid of the Magical Council was painfully easy.

The satellite was automated, once they had punched in the coordinates it was just a matter of waiting for it to move into position, charge up, and fire. The members had all retreated into their own chambers after the coordinates had been. Each and every one of them hoped that the solitude would help them come to terms with the fact that while they were undoubtedly taking out a serious threat, they were also eliminating potentially dozens of prisoners and slaves.

Their reactions fell in line with Ultear's predictions perfectly. While majority of the magical council members were overall weaker than the Wizard Saints they could still be a problem in a group. Separate though, lost in their own thoughts and doubts, the hired help was more than enough to put a permanent stop to their meddling.

Her newest round of hiring had resulted from quite a lot of good fortune. The group working with her at Galuna Island might have been defeated by Fairy Tail, but now the guild was steadily building quite the list of characters who would be more than willing to fight for her for the right cost.

Her most recent acquisition alone would be enough to finish off the councilors.

XXX

"B…bastard!"

"Shhh. Don't try to talk, you'll only use up what little air you have left." Bellos sighed, calmly watching as the councilwoman finally collapsed to the ground and fell still. "There you go, hope you find peace wherever you are now."

Six down, two to go.

Bellos dispersed himself into air, casually letting himself drift through the doors and down the halls. Man, this job was such a downer. Killing old folks past their prime was no fun, little wonder that the boss lady had wanted someone else to do it.

Bellos frowned to himself as he considered the lady in question. Ultear—pretty as a viper, and about half as nice. She'd approached him after that whole fiasco with his guild and Sleeping Beauty, telling him she'd been keeping an eye on Monkey Boy—because that wasn't creepy at all—and that she was impressed with his skill set. He'd wanted to say no, Ultear was about as shifty as a rat in a grain silo, but then she'd gone and offered him the one thing he'd truly wanted that he wasn't able to get on his own.

The fact that she'd known what he'd wanted was also creepy as hell, but whatever, he was assassinating people so who was he to judge?

He stopped at a hallway junction; he knew the targets were in separate directions. He paused for a moment as panicking soldiers ran beneath and through him. He knew which way he wanted to go, but the question had to be asked—business or pleasure?

Well, he _had_ already killed six in the name of business, the last one could wait while he took some time to enjoy himself. He turned right.

He let himself seep into the chamber of the head councilman, Crawford Seam. The overly fat man wasn't looking very good; sweat was pouring down his face as he spoke feverishly into a communication Lacrima. Very quietly, Bellos blew the door shut and let himself materialize behind the councilman.

"Hello Crawfrod."

"Good heavens!" the chairman jumped, spinning around with a feverish expression. "Who are you? What are you doing in my chambers?" he demanded.

"Who am I?" Bellos grinned. "I'm the one who is about to kill you. As for what I'm doing here, well, second verse same as the first."

Crawford flinched and snapped his hands up, materializing a magic circle. Bellos was faster, twitching his fingers and creating a vacuum around the councilors head. The sudden change jolted Crawford, causing the half-formed spell to dissipate into wisps of magic. He collapsed gasping.

"W-why?"

"Good question, I was hoping you would ask." Bellos replied, keeping his tone warm and friendly. "My name is Bellos Vespers. Tell me chairman, does that name mean anything to you? Anything at all?"

Bellos stared into the man's wide uncomprehending eyes and snorted, shaking his head in disgust. "Of course not, well since I'm not a very nice man, I need to make sure you know why that's important." Bellos crouched, smiling as he looked the chairman in the eyes. "It started twenty-odd years ago, in a little town named Montes Aires."

Bellos paused, but the fat man's eyes still held no hint of recognition.

"Nice town," He continued. "Small, inoffensive, no tourists, peaceful… till one day a group of dark mages came, called themselves the Last Gasp." Bellos smiled at the sudden glimmer of recognition. "Ah there it is! Now I'm ringing a bell. Well, the leader of these dark mages wasn't a very nice man; he had his cohorts set up a neat little magic circle around the town. Made a fancy barrier around the whole village. Nothing could get in, nothing could get out. Not even air."

"N-now see here, I had nothing-" Bellos snapped his fingers, lifting the chairman into the air and slamming him against the wall again.

"I wasn't done. Now that little village just so happened to be in possession of a distress beacon. They sent word out a cry for help and the Rune Knights came. Problem was it took them three days, the little town was pretty far away you see." Bellos sighed, "I'm sure you'll agree that's a _long_ time to go without air. Almost everyone died. But at least the Rune knights arrived! They fell upon the dark mages and rounded them up in no time. They even caught the leader! The Rune knights then searched the town for survivors and, wonder of wonders, they found one! A little boy, gasping and weak, but alive!

They brought the mean old dark mage and the little boy back to city. They put the mage on trial and brought forth their key witness. The boy testified, grieving and weak, but determined. You see, everyone he had ever known was gone. His world was broken, but that little boy had a job to do. He had to get justice!" Bellos clapped his fist into his palm for emphasis. "If he made sure that the dark mage paid for what he'd done, maybe all his friends could live in peace."

Bellos threw his hand over his eyes. "But alas! The dark mage went free! Cleared of all charges! How did this happen? Well, he said it was the other dark mages who set him up as a scapegoat. Despite the little boys testifying, despite his eyewitness account, the mage went free. I tell you, to this day, that little boy still remembers the sound of that mage laughing as he strutted out of the courtroom, proud as anything. The boy couldn't believe it; justice had slipped through his fingers! How? It took many years before he understood, but eventually he did." Bellos fell silent, staring at the squirming councilman.

"Tell me, oh esteemed chairman," he murmured, his voice as quiet as a windless day. "Tell me, Crawford Seam, what was the dark mage's name?"

"I-I-…"

"It was Alexander Seam."

"I- I didn't-"

"Hush."

Bellos waved his hand and what little air left in the room disappeared. He dropped the councilman and waited until the struggling stopped.

"Burn in hell."

Bellos sighed one final time, he felt… lighter, satisfied. He nodded to himself, then dissipated himself and left.

He still had one more councilman to go, might as well get it over with.

He flew himself down the halls, letting his mind go blank until he arrived at the right room. He blew himself through the cracks.

"I know you're there."

Bellos blinked. The councilman, a short man with a black three pointed hat stared up at the air with a heavy frown. Wasn't that interesting? Even Monkey Boy hadn't been able to sense him when he turned to air. He didn't have the energy to create a sudden giant vacuum, so this one would require a delicate touch. He let himself materialize, gradually drawing the air from the room.

"Hello there councilman, were you expecting me?"

"I'm a telepath. Would you care to explain why I just felt my link with the head chairman disappear?"

"Because he's dead." Bellos shrugged, no point hiding it. "Just like the other six."

"I am aware of what has happened to them."

"And… you're just waiting for me? That's…odd. Think you can beat me?"

"…No, I'm old, and I was never much for fighting. But I do have a question for you, would you care to indulge me?"

"Well that's a weird thing to ask someone who just murdered your colleagues, but since you asked so nicely, fire away."

"You work for Ultear, don't you?"

Bellos said nothing, neither confirming nor denying.

"I thought so." The man collapsed. Bellos frowned, he hadn't drained the air that much yet. Why…? The councilors body flattened, turning into a shadow and sticking to the ground. The man began to move, slipping through a crack in the floor.

"Oh, hold up!" Bellos hit the ground with a blast of air, but the man just kept moving on, unbothered. Behind Bellos, the door burst open.

"Rune knights! Cease and desist."

Aw man, that wasn't good. Bellos threw himself towards the window and slipped through the cracks as a barrage of containment spells shattered the glass behind him.

Well that was unfortunate. No doubt that councilman had surrounded himself with protective spells, too many for him to break through right now. He had failed…

Oh well.

He could appreciate the man's escape; Bellos had always felt that, as a general rule, there should always be at least one survivor for each act of genocide.

Bellos shrugged to himself, and let himself blow away.

Ultear would just have to be satisfied with seven out of eight.

XXX

Ultear frowned as she watched the tiny man escaped but there was nothing she could do about the fact. Just like she could do nothing about the fact that with Goku crippled she wouldn't be able to accurately assess his abilities. Instead she turned towards one of the other monitoring orbs currently aimed up in space at the Etherion cannon. The charge had final reached its maximum power and from across the hall Siegrain was punching in the final authorization. It was finally time for things to really pick up. Even with Goku paralyzed her hidden devices were still running countless scans and diagnostics of all varieties to break down the

"Jellal, Goku…you're currently the best options I have to make my ambitions a reality. The harnessed power of the Etherion…or the ability to tap directly into a beings very life force. I need to know, or everything that I've done so far is useless. Come on boys, show me your powers.

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"Sixty seconds." Jellal yawned. "I guess you really are fine with your best friend dying with us Erza. Maybe he can wave goodbye as you and I are dragged down to hell together." Despite herself, Erza let her eyes drift over towards her friend as she toyed with the idea of forcing him out of the tower.

Erza's indecisiveness was all the opening Jellal needed. A simple flare of his magic energy sent a fresh wave of pain surging through Goku's body. Gasping Goku lost control of his energy sphere and it faded to nothingness as Jellal dashed forward. He ducked underneath Erza's reflexive swing and came to a stop right in front of the twitching warrior. Goku tried to force his body to respond to the incoming danger but he knew he was too slow. Far, far too slow.

Jellal's fist buried itself into Goku's stomach that left him choking, coughing up blood even as Jellal swung around him and put the crippled fighter between himself and a furious Erza.

"Three…two…one…" The world went white.

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"Holy shit…" Cana murmured as the giant pillar of white pure magic smashed down onto the tower from above. The sea around the point of impact began to boil and roll, sending the evacuation boats bouncing along atop the waves. The occupants of the boats were forced to shield their eyes as the massive wave of light rolled over them, a shining beacon that could be seen for miles in every direction. It hung to the air like a thick sheet, penetrating all the way through to the sea floor. It took several minutes for the blinding glare to die down enough that any of them could even think about opening their eyes.

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They weren't dead. That was the first pleasant surprise that Erza had gotten all day. Maybe.

The entire tower had been transformed. Every scrap of metal was completely gone, replaced by blue crystal. Tiny sparks of energy were flying wild in every direction, bouncing along the floor and walls. Every time it made contact with her skin she could feel her hair stand on end and her skin tense. As she stared at her surroundings she felt a sudden chilly understanding run down her spine.

"This is…this is a giant lacrima."

"Got it in one!" Jellal smiled. "It _is_ impressive, isn't it? Resurrecting Zeref requires a massive power supply, far greater than anything I, or the original owners, could produce on my own. At least, not without the magical council finding out and sticking their noses in. But that's the beauty of this; if the magical council would stop us from getting the necessary power, then why not just get the council to give it to us themselves?"

"That's insane! Etherion is made up of all of the elemental magic types fused together for a short burn attack. The magic is far too wild to be contained! You haven't made a resurrection machine, you've created a gigantic bomb!"

"A bomb? Silly, naïve, clueless Erza. This is only a bomb if we let it blow up. To fix it, all we need is a stabilizing agent. Something capable of reacting with the magic, of molding and directing it."

"I've never heard of anything capable of that, not on the scale this would require."

"Come now Erza, you're not thinking! I never said anything about an object. I already told you what the tattoo chains were originally for. Tell me, why do you think I spent so much time and effort on something to contain _you_?" Erza's eyes widened for a brief moment before narrowing.

"You sick freak!"

"I told you that you're the main event!" Jellal sauntered around the room and stroked his finger across a crystal pillar that stood in the exact center. The crystal rippled like water under his touch before morphing to show Erza's reflection.

"It's like you said, Etherion is very unstable. But what I need isn't a thing, but a person. I need someone capable of handling the maelstrom of energy and with ease. Someone that can survive rapid changes in condition to their magical core with barely a pinch. Erza…I need you." He locked eyes with her reflection and Era was almost taken aback at the mad wonder shining in his face. "It's honestly amazing, isn't it? For as much as you hate this place, you've sculpted yourself into the perfect final piece to complete my dreams. I doubt there is another person on the planet capable of this Erza, and believe me I looked. But no, you are unique. All of the training you have done, all you have fought and strived for! Every single battle you have survived has brought you closer and closer to this exact moment! You've literally made yourself for this Erza, it is your destiny!"

Erza closed her eyes.

"Yes, now you can truly feel the awe of this place can't you? Can you feel your fate approaching? Are you ready to embrace-" with nary a sound Erza threw herself forward and slammed her weapon into Jellal's back. The blade bounced off a hastily conjured a magic barrier just before she could cut him in half. He turned his head and stared at her with an almost remorseful expression.

"I see you still insist on fighting this." he sighed. "Well, I suppose that this is to be expected. It always was a long shot that you would decide to side with me even after you discovered how closely tied you were to this place. But don't you feel guilty at all? Think of all the people that had to be hurt in order to finish this place! Are you really going to allow all of their suffering amount to nothing?"

"How dare you." Erza's voice was as cold as a knife in a snowstorm. "To join you would be to say that their suffering was right, was justified. I will _never_ do that."

"Hmm. I see. Well then, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then. Isn't that right Siegrain?"

"Apparently so." Erza spun around to find herself face to face with what appeared to be Jellal's exact doppelganger. The man walked straight past her to stand beside the original with a huge grin.

"Erza, meet my….well I suppose brother would be the acceptable word. This is the part of myself that I split off about nine years ago to watch over the mainland for me. He was quite the agent, the guy even managed to get himself a spot on the magical council! Naturally he ate up a lot of my magical power. You can't become a councilor without some impressive feats of magic after all. But unfortunately for you, his job at the council is now no longer necessary. That means, now he can come back into the fold."

The two men reached out to take one another's hands and for the second time that day Erza was forced to hide her eyes as the room was bathed in a blinding glow. When the glow faded the copy had vanished and Jellal was left smirking at her. Then he turned to the side and fired off a bolt of light that burned a hole into Goku's shoulder.

Goku roared in from his position on the ground and the sudden surge of angry adrenaline allowed him to rise back up onto his feet. Jellal merely grinned and flared his magic again, causing Goku to collapse before taking a single step. Erza was already moving to intercept when Jellal pointed a finger charged with the same glowing energy directly at her friend's forehead.

"Right. Here's what's going to happen. You are going to get rid of that oh-so-scary Purgatory armor, drop your weapons and embrace your destiny like the little lamb you are.. Otherwise I'm going to blow a hole in your friends head, beat within an inch of your life and _throw _you into the pillar. The choice is yours."

"Didn't we just do this?" Goku groaned. "I feel like we just did this."

"Well _I _feel like you aren't in a position to be complaining right now." Jellal replied.

"Erza…if you give up everything's just going to get even worse. You're the only one that can do this right now."

"You know, in your position I don't think you should be so quick to antagonize the person who's about to kill you."

"Meh, not the first time it's happened." Jellal sighed in annoyance and bashed Goku over the top of his head. Goku took the blow with a smile as he eyed the other side of the room.

It took Jellal less than two seconds to look down, deliver the blow, and look back up at Erza again. In that time she Requip into her Flight Armor, dashed across the room and was mid swing with her lightning spear by the time he finally noticed her approach. The man threw himself backward at a near ninety degree angle and Erza was able to lash out with her foot to knock Goku out of the way. Then finally the battle began.

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"Oh geez that doesn't look good." Lucy said as she watched the massive Lacrima from the distance. Arcs of multicolor electricity were shooting off from across its entire length and miniscule cracks were beginning to form from the top down.

"How much longer do you think it's going to be before it falls apart at this rate?" Cana wondered.

"It's not going to fall apart." Levy replied seriously. "That lacrima looks dangerously unstable and if it keeps crumbling like that it's going to explode. But judging by the current rate of decay I'd say we've got at least an hour to get out of the blast radius. So right now we should probably see if we can get Erza and Goku out of there.

As Cana and Lucy looked to respond a figure coated in a glowing yellow aura exploded out through the roof of the tower, firing tiny balls of light down beneath him the whole way. Erza was in hot pursuit with her Blackwing armor, deflecting every single hit that came near her off into the sea. The rest collided with the tower, creating brand new cracks with every impact. The girls both paused as they noted Levy's face get deathly pale.

"Lucy," Levy murmured. "Now don't take this the wrong way, but what are the chances of us surviving you summoning Aquarius to get us out of here?"

Cana and Lucy stared at the word mage for a moment before lunging for the oars.

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Erza was quickly discovering that an aerial battle was a terrible place to be a close combat specialist. Jellal was laughing like a manic as he flew around strafing her and it was all she could do to block whatever he threw her way. Her blade was a blur of motion as she juked and dodged every which way in her first ever midair showdown.

A trio of closely grouped balls of light somehow rushed up from her left side _below her _even as she tried to catch up to Jellal who had been flying up above her at the time. With a snarl she caught all three shots with the flat of her blade and launched them straight back at their owner. Jellal rolled out of the way of the blasts with relative ease and launched a few shots back of his own. What followed was a horrible combination of tennis, dodgeball, and hot potato.

Jellal would fire more and more of the tiny projectiles, laughing like a madman, while Erza had to try to simultaneously knock enough back to keep Jellal from getting too much of an advantage while dodging all of the blasts she wasn't in a position to dodge _while also _making sure that she knocked all the attacks back in a manner that wouldn't just make them blow up in her face as soon as she touched them.

Erza brought her blade up to intercept a sphere coming straight for her face and redirected it straight back up towards…nothing? The red head began looking around frantically for her opponent when suddenly she felt a pair of feet touch down onto the small of her back. She craned her neck around to see Jellal crouched on top of her, one of her suit's wings in each hand.

"These sure do look important!" he said cheerfully before giving a hard yank and suddenly Erza was falling. With a snarl of annoyance she bathed herself in the bright glow of her Requip magic and brought forth her Lightning Empress armor. Twisting in midair she fired off a pair of lightning bolts from her decorative spear. The both went wide and Jellal dove in to land a kick straight to her gut. Winded, Erza could do nothing but crash land heavily back through the roof of the tower.

Jellal landed lightly beside her, casually stomping the Lightning Spear in half as he touched down. He leaned back out of the way as an enormous was launched towards his face and hopped over a wave of flame launched from Erza's crimson blade as she switched to the Fire Empress Armor. A wave of his hand created a whirlwind around the girl, snuffing out her fire and leaving her vulnerable to a point blank blast. Erza groaned in pain as she was brought to her knees before steeling herself once more.

"REQUIP!" Jellal was forced into a mad scramble backwards as the Heaven's Wheel Armor burst onto the scene with the presence of several dozen swords. Jellal bobbed and weaved around the sudden bombardment, returning fire with his own bursts of magic that were quickly consumed by the endless stream of steel. Erza pressed forward, summoning even more blades, straining herself to her absolute limit as Jellal's defense grew more and more frantic. She began scoring hits, glancing blows only but the number of oozing red rivets slowly increasing was a good sign.

Jellal hummed to himself when a claymore dug an inch-long groove into his forearm. Even as he continued to dodge around he watched as his blood slowly curled around his arm and dripped down to the ground. He looked up from the wound and locked eyes with Erza as she sneered across the room at him. Then he began to move forward.

He moved through the barrage of swords like a ballerina, bending and twirling around each weapon as he closed the distance between them. At the sudden failure of her attack Erza switched tactics and launched herself forward to meet Jellal in the middle of the room, her twin short swords gleaming. Jellal ducked the first pair of cuts and shook his arm forward with a snap that sent an arc of his blood at Erza's eyes. Suddenly blind she reeled back and was left utterly defenseless as Jellal put glowing hands onto her chest and blew apart another set of armor.

"See, that's the problem with fighting someone who's been studying your every move. They know how to get around your best techniques. I will admit it was a bit different actually being on the receiving end of it rather than just watching a recording, but I am nothing if not adaptable." Jellal broke his monologue briefly to deliver a quick backhand to a charging Goku and activated the pain trigger once more. Once he was sure the fighter was sufficiently preoccupied he returned his attention to Erza and continued.

"Next is going to be the Flight Armor right?" Erza froze and the magic she had been started to gather for her next attack vanished. "You'd blitz right for me only to pull off a quick turn to try and attack me from behind. Once I blocked that you'd proceed to go bouncing all over the room, coming in wherever you feel I might have a blind spot in a high speed hit and run." Jellal spread his arms wide and grinned. "Come on and try, I _dare _you!"

Erza did nothing, glaring at him in loathing.

"Fine fine. That would leave you with the Giant Amor which is too slow and bulky to be effective against me, the Sea Empress Armor which would be of no use to you this high above the water, and of course Purgatory. Well, that is, unless you want to break out the Seduction Armor. I can't say that I would complain."

"How the hell do you even know that exists!? Mirajane bought me that as a joke and it's never left my room!"

"Well, I was curious about what kind of tricks you might have stashed away in your armor room. It's not my fault that the security at Fairy Hills is so poor. You have some very classy outfits stashed away, don't you, you naughty girl? But I digress; you only have one real option left. Are you prepared to surrender or would you rather go one more round?"

Erza let her magic speak for her. Pouring all of her rage into her power she brought forth her strongest armor once more. Thick, midnight black plates burst outward from the remains of the silvery metal. Her eyes burned red with her fury as she charged forward with her massive spiked sword lifted high overhead. Jellal smiled as she approached and brought his hands up to counter moments before Erza's iron clad boot crashed into his gut. Her elbow met his jaw hard enough to loosen teeth and her knee landed between his legs that left him bent over in pain. Scowling down at his hunched form she caught him across the temple with a backhand that sent him sprawling.

"The problem with memorizing patterns? You suddenly find yourself off balance when they are changed on you."

"Oh no." Jellal drawled, "You aren't doing _exactly_ what I expected you to do. What_ ever_ shall I do?" He shook his head, a crooked grin crossing his face. "You just don't get it Erza, this is your strongest armor. Your last ditch effort when everything else fails. Your back is against the wall, Erza dearest. But me? I've_ barely_ even gotten started." Jellal's entire body was suddenly alight in a surge of yellow energy and he vanished. Erza immediately swung around looking for her target only to feel a fist burry itself into her back right above the kidney.

With a grunt she swung her sword around in a full circle only for Jellal to duck the blow and catch her with a rising uppercut that left her stunned. Jellal didn't give her a chance to recover. Three explosive spheres crashed into her chest and blew her back across the room in a stream of smoke.

She was back up like a shot, ducking the next wave of attacks and launching herself in the air to deliver a flying drop kick to the face. Jellal groaned but his eyes were alight with excitement.

"That's more like it! Come on, let's see how you handle this!" Jellal snapped his fingers and everything went dark.

Erza steadied herself, blinking her eyes against the sudden darkness. Then there was a tiny dot of light, no bigger than her fist, floating in the void. It flashed and a beam of energy shot towards her. Erza lifted her club and batted away the light almost effortlessly.

"Is that it?" she snorted, shaking her head in contempt.

The blackness around her lit up with hundreds of lights.

Erza's pupils shrank to pinpricks as they lights twinkled almost mockingly.

"ADAMANTIUM ARMOR!" she screamed, throwing up her strongest defense. She could feel the light raining down upon her shield, but nonetheless, she held strong. She felt the barrage of light slow to a trickle, then stop completely.

Cautiously, Erza unfolded her armor and raised her head from behind her shield.

Jellal's fist buried itself in her face, sending her crashing across the room.

"Do you know what your problem is?" Jellal asked, sticking his hands behind his back and strolling forward. "You put far too much faith in material things, more specifically, that armor you're so proud of." Jellal stopped, just out of striking range and stared down at her with eyes like flecks of ice. Erza glared right back, blood running down her face.

"You're weak Erza." Jellal murmured. "A weak little girl, hiding behind a fortress of steel made by other men." He tilted his head to the side, eyeing her in consideration. "Do you truly think that nobody notices?"

"Go to hell." Erza spat.

"Delightful. I'm not like you Erza; my strength is my own; my power is my own; my ambition is my own. And what do you have? Friends?" Jellal scoffed, glancing over at Goku. "We both know how you treat your friends. I'd bet you if I offered to take him for the tower instead of you-"

"I would never accept such a thing!" Erza hissed, attempting to force herself to her feet.

"…No, I don't think you would." Jellal agreed. "But if he offered himself up, you would do nothing but run away."

"Neve-"

"You already did it once," Jellal's voice cut through her denial like a blade. "You should accept you destiny with pride, Erza. I could strip your armor from you and toss you into the pillar like an unwanted piece of trash. But I do not _want_ to." Jellal held out his hand, his eyes as soft and cold as freshly fallen snow. "Come Erza, accept your destiny with the dignity you deserve and I will spare your friend. I swear it."

"I… I…" Erza muttered staring at the hand, as soft and seductive as a swaying snake.

Then a curtain of darkness rolled in.

Jellal blinked as all of the light in the room was extinguished. He tilted his head to the side, listening carefully, straining his senses against the darkness for several moments. His arm snapped out firing a single blast of light. There was a strangled gasp and suddenly the darkness drew back to reveal Simon kneeling against the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.

"Simon." Jellal sighed, shaking his head with an amused grin. "Loyal to the very end. A pity you gave your loyalty to the wrong person." Jellal stepped forward, his boots clicking against the floor as he strolled around the downed mage "A pity too, that you are so stupid. I simply have to tell you, that you have the _worst_ plans." Jellal sunk a glowing fist into Simon's back, breaking through skin and grinding bone to dust, then lifted him up and tossed him across the room.

Jellal calmly lifted his hands to the sky and a wave of putrid power flooded the area, forcing Erza to shield her eyes as a whirlwind began to tear through the room. All around them shadows began to bend towards his spread hands, forming into a pulsating ball of black energy which seemed to suck the warmth right out of the air.

"I'm sorry Simon, but this show only has room for two stars, you should have known better. **Altairis!" **The sphere of chaos left Jellal's hands and Erza _moved._ There was no plan, just her muscles screaming in protest as she forced herself between her fallen friend and the encroaching death.

She couldn't fail again. Not like this. She closed her eyes.

"Me…HAAAAAAA!" The blue beam crashed into the black sphere like a bulldozer, pushing it straight through the crystal wall and out to sea. The entire tower shuddered as the shockwave hit and tiny pieces of the glowing ceiling began to rain down on their heads. Erza looked over in disbelief.

Goku, down on one knee and with blood pouring down his hands, gave her half a weak and battered grin.

"Erza… you can't just give up… hah… like that," he gasped. "You haven't shown this guy what you're made of yet… after that… you can rest."

The vein above Jellal's right eye began to twitch.

"How do you keep getting in my way?"

"I don't know," Goku's bloody grin widened. "Probably cause you keep not killing me." Jellal's twitch spread across his forehead.

"Good point." Goku's eyes hardened when Jellal's hand slow started to point towards his direction. Quietly he focused his Ki, drawing up all of his reserves. Then, the moment that the symbols wrapped around his body were trigger he cut loose.

With a roar that was equal parts rage and agony Goku erupted in a bright red aura. The crystal beneath his feet began to splinter in spider web like fractures and the tattoo began to warp even as it tortured him. Jellal frowned at the sudden resistance and poured more magic into the bindings, causing them to blacken and vibrate violently. Goku's blood felt like molten lead pumping through his veins but still he screamed and the swirling aura around him only grew bigger and more violent. The room began to crumble more and more as the cracks spread and Jellal's face went from puzzled to panic.

"You idiot! You're accelerating the destabilization! You're going to kill us all!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Goku's muscles suddenly swelled and with a final yell the tattoos caught fire. There was a horrible, gut wrenching screech that filled the air and a blinding flash of black and red nearly blinded everyone in the room. When the spots finally cleared from everyone's eyes Jellal let out a hiss of irritation.

The explosion of energy had burned away Goku's shirt and his pants weren't much better. One of his boots was smoking and an armband lay on the ground covered in ash. His muscles looked like they had been forcefully inflated, his veins were popping out of his body so much that there was no way it wasn't painful. Despite all that though, Goku was back to grinning. The tattoos were gone.

"Cool…that worked." Goku murmured. "Right…I think I'mma sit down a sec…Erza… you better win." Goku keeled over, his eyes glazed and unfocused. Erza looked at her friend worriedly for a moment before glancing over her shoulder to see Simon on the ground, bleeding from the back and unconscious.

She couldn't tell if he was still breathing.

She closed her eyes.

What the hell did she think she was doing? How long was she going to stand back and let others save her?

"No more."

"Oh?" Jellal grinned, "Finally ready to accept your fate?"

"Jellal." Erza's voice was cold, not a hint of anger to be heard. "No. Not Jellal, whoever, whatever you are…"

She opened her eyes.

"I'm going to kill you." It was not a threat. It was not boast.

It was a promise.

"…Again? We are really doing this again? Haven't we already done this enough?" Erza's glare didn't falter, her magic flared once more, steel plates melted off her. Red exercise pants decorated with flames on her legs, bandage wrappings across her chest and a simple long sword in hand, Erza sunk into a combat stance.

"No armor this time. Just some comfortable clothes. You tricks, no gimmicks, just my own magic filtered through my body completely naturally, unaltered in any way."

"That's what you're going with?" Jellal shook his head, "Erza, darling, when I said you depend on those armors too much, I didn't mean-"

"Shut. Up." Erza tightened her grip on her blade, this was it: no tricks, no tactics, and no preparation. Just him and her.

Jellal blinked, then scowled.

"You insignificant little witch," He snarled. "You think you can just cast off who you are, just like that? I made you remember? I know you better than you know yourself. Everything you are comes from me, even your name! I own you Erza, and nothing you do will ever change that!"

"You have given me a name yes, but I have earned others! I am the youngest S-class mage of Fairy Tail in two decades! I am the Queen of Fairy Tail, the Titania, and I WILL NOT LIVE IN FEAR OF YOU ANYMORE!"

**(AN: Insert Hero by Flow right about here. If you know DBZ then you know where it's from and why I'm asking.)**

Jellal brought up his arm and unleashed a bolt of pure white magic that screamed out towards Erza. Jellal's smirk vanished though when the attack blasted right through her after image. Erza came blazing down from the ceiling, landing hard straight on top of Jellal's shoulders. He didn't even have a moment to start to fall over before she wrapped her thighs around his throat and was twisting, pulling him straight down nose first into the ground. With her legs still in place she pulled herself up into a handstand, dragging Jellal along with her before she began to spin.

Once, twice, three times and suddenly Jellal found himself airborne. Twisting himself around he managed to bounce land feet first on one of the support pillars and kicked off straight back toward the red head. His fist crashed into her jaw and an arc of blood escaped her lips. But Erza used the momentum from the blow to throw herself into a spin, driving the hilt of her sword into his gut. Jellal folded over in pain only for Erza's elbow to slam into his nose with a sickening crack. A small river of crimson began pouring down from his face and Jellal snarled through the blood clogging his throat. Grabbing Erza by the hair he made to yank her downward.

Her sword flashed, and his hand went flying off in a fountain of blood.

Jellal lost his balance as she swept his leg out from under him and the two toppled to the ground with Erza on top. Jellal raised his remaining hand to blast her off, but her sword sunk into his shoulder, sending his aim wide.

More cracks began to spread around the room and chunks of lacrima began to fall. The tower shook like a tree in a hurricane as the magic began to spit out in geysers from all up and down its length and the sea began to boil around the base. A violent shudder threw Erza off balance, allowing Jellal to shoot up back to his feet once more.

"ENOUGH!" Jellal's hand and bleeding stump were crossed above his head and the whirlwind of black magic burst back into life. Erza still charged in, sword in hand and with all her might she brought the weapon down. Jellal's chest sprayed red as her blade tore into his front and the magic vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. The two foes, former friends, met each other's gaze one last time. Then with a final roar Erza's foot shot out, kicking Jellal full on in the chest and propelling him straight back into the liquid crystal center of the room. The man crashed into the surface and disappeared in a glowing ripple.

Erza took a moment to breathe. The fight was over. Everything was over.

More than anything Erza wanted to sit down and let everything sink in. She wanted to process what she had just done, and what she had freed herself from. But she'd have to make sure there was time for that, first. She spun around and dashed back over towards her friends.

She grabbed Goku and Simon; throwing them over her shoulders as she staggered to the edge of the room, gazing out at the long fall to the ocean. That wasn't good; with Goku unconscious there was no way to call Nimbus.

Well, she hadn't come this far just to die. Erza closed her eyes.

And jumped.

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Far away, in a secluded room of magical scrolls and elegant drapes, Ultear sat. Gazing into the crystalline ball, she sighed to herself as tower of heaven collapsed in on itself.

Well. She had her answer, she supposed.

Well no, she didn't. Goku been removed from the fight before it could truly begin. So rather than having the answer, her choices had forcibly cut down to one.

A pity.

Still, she wasn't going to let that stop her from achieving her goals. Eight of the ten councilors of magic had been removed, the government of Fiore was in disarray. Even if they could gather themselves quickly enough, they'd be too busy dealing with the political fallout of firing Etherion in their neighbor's country. She'd be impressed if they were even able to prevent all out war to begin with. My, my, she could practically hear the toxic conspiracies and threats beginning to circulate even now. Just the thought of it made her tingle.

But there would be time—fuufuu, time—for her to revel in her power later. As of the moment she had best make use of the turmoil to acquire several… assets.

She grinned to herself, and picked up a teleportation scroll. Sending a spark of magic through the paper she winked out of existence, reappearing in a dark corridor beneath the capital. Normally, such a feat would be impossible. The capital of magic had been host to an endless number of protective magic woven and rewoven into the stone for centuries.

It was merely fortunate that the mages who had first created such spells had designed them to need to be renewed over the years and as such, they had a _time limit_.

Ultear tittered to herself, she really shouldn't mock them, it was exactly that kind of shortsighted foolishness that she owed _her_ success to.

She floated a rock up to her hand threw it back into a time when it had been molten, casting her surroundings into a dim orange light.

Ah yes, there were the stairs. Hitching up her kimono, she delicately stepped down into the deep.

She knew this place well, it was where the council sent individuals they wished… removed, but simply had too much political or economic clout to be completely discarded.

The fact that some of those people may have been obstacles to her personal goals was just a detail.

She worked her way down past the political prisoners, uncaring if they saw her. Nobody important ever came down here, let alone listened to anything these forgotten souls had to say.

Finally she arrived at her destination: the magic cells, home to prisoners whose magical ability were simply too strong to contain without the capitals layered securities.

And…yes. Here was the one she wanted. She held up the ball of lava, illuminating the huddled form of a man against the far wall.

"The shadows said you'd come." The man's voice was ragged, as though something had been taking chunks out of it.

"Did they? And did they tell you what I had to offer?"

"No."

The man looked up, and my, didn't he look much the worse for wear? His normally impeccably groomed face was ragged, and without his fine clothes he seemed far less imposing. Smaller.

Ultear wasn't fooled; without the magical cuffs around his wrists and ankles, she knew he could likely kill everyone in the capital.

"What if I told you that I was offering you a chance for revenge?"

His face still cast in shadow, Jose grinned.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: ERZA'S TRAIL HAS AT LONG LAST COME TO A CLOSE. NO LONGER WILL SHE HAVE TO WATCH OVER HER SHOULDER WITH THE THREAT OF JELLAL HAUNTING HER EVERY MOVE. NOW IS THE TME FOR FAMILY TO COME TOGETHER AND FOR OLD WOUNDS TO FINALLY BEGIN TO HEAL. AT LEAST…UNTIL LUCY FUCKS IT UP.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: KAGURA'S RETURN AND THE RED KEY.


	33. Kagura's Return and the Red Key

**Chapter 32: Kagura's Return and the Red Key**.

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He awoke to the sound of creaky rumblings.

Goku's eyes flickered open slowly, adjusting to the dim light. He sat still, staring at the white ceiling for a few moments, waves of soreness and exhaustion swept over him, nearly sending him back to slumber. But eventually, as the memories of what had happened trickled through his mind, he decided he the need to know what was going on was more important then the comforting oblivion of sleep.

Haltingly, his muscles screaming in protest, Goku sat himself part way up, propped up on his elbows, and looked around. The first thing he noticed was that what he was actually in the back of a wagon, which explained the rumbling sense of motion. Another cot lay beside his own and Goku stared at it in incomprehension for a few moments before eventually recognizing the prone form of Simon. He looked different without that metal jaw plate…face… thing. His torso was wrapped in some kind of improvised brace with a heavy pad on his back. Goku tried to turn his own body to get a better look at the injury and winced as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder. A gentle hand came out and grabbed him, slowly pulling him back to lay down again.

"You really shouldn't be moving around yet. You've had numerous fractures, internal bleeding and more than a couple third degree burns. Then on top of all that you had the equivalent of about twenty-eight hours' worth of torture forced onto your body in the span of half an hour. It's a miracle that you woke up this soon at all, but of course." the voice scoffed, he could practically hear her eyes rolling "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, this is _you _we're talking about." There was the sound of wood creaking beside him and Erza shifted into his line of sight. Goku finally looked down at his own body and grimaced at the multitude of soiled bandages.

"Ugh, haven't felt this bad since I decided to fight with Gildarts."

"Leaping headfirst into fights has consequences," Erza sniffed. Goku shot her a flat look, but she just stared back, daring him to call her out.

Goku grinned, letting it go. If that was the worst Erza was going to lecture him for charging in, then it was fine. "So… you know how you said you sometimes kept some spare clothes for me in your pocket space?" Now it was Erza's turn to chuckle as she shook her head.

"You remember that I was supposed to be on vacation right? Most of what I had packed were dresses and swimwear. We should only be a few more hours away from home, you can wait."

"Fine, fine." He sighed, lying back down. "So how long have I been out for?"

"It's been almost a week."

"Wow, that long?" Goku felt his eyes widen, he must have ben more hurt than he thought. "How'd we get out of the tower?"

"I grabbed you and Simon, and jumped. Then Levy and the others saw us fall, Lucy and Cana managed to get to us and Levy slapped as much healing magic on the two of you as she could. Then we rushed back to the resort. There was a trained healer mage there; Cana forced him to treat us. At least, he managed to stabilize you long enough to reach Porlyusica."

Goku nodded, and glanced at the barely moving pile in the bed beside his.

"What about Simon?"

Erza winced.

Goku closed his eyes. "Is he going to die?" he asked, voice flat.

"I don't know." Erza replied, her voice wavering. "The healer put him in a magic stasis, he won't worsen and he won't get better until it's lifted. But… he didn't seem very hopeful." She trailed off.

"Porlyusica's a miracle worker, you know that."

"Yes… she is."

"And…" Goku hesitated, but he had to know. "Jellal?"

"He's _done_."Goku heard the finality in her tone. He didn't have to ask her what she meant.

"You alright?"

"I will be. He had every chance to sway from his path, I refuse to waste any more guilt on him."

"Proud of you." Goku sighed, settling down deeper into the cot, wincing as a particularly large bump jarred his injuries.

His pain did not go unnoticed. Erza sighed, giving his battered body an once-over.

"I believe I owe you an apology."

"Uh… why?" Goku screwed up his eyes, trying to figure out where this was going.

"Your injuries, if I had been quicker-"

"Pffft! Don't give me that." Goku laughed. "I'm the one who walked headfirst into a trap. It's all good! You don't owe me anything."

"I knew you would say that," Erza grinned weakly. "But I _do _owe you Goku." Her tone became somber. "Without you there, I believe I would have died."

"Well, if you're that serious about owing me…I won't say no to free food." Goku said slowly. Erza chortled into her hand and gently bopped him on the head.

"I'm trying to be serious here you know."

"I know. I'm trying to make sure you're not. It usually makes you pretty grumpy." Erza paused, glared at Goku, raised a finger, paused again, sighed, and brought her hand down.

"Regardless, thank you. After we defeated Jose I told you that you were too quick to trust and you told me I that I might not trust enough…you were right. This entire situation, it all happened because I was too scared to trust anyone. I knew about that place for years but Jellal threatened me, he told me if I ever told anybody that he would track down and kill everyone I cared for. I never even considered his words really. After I saw what he could do in the Tower I guess I just…shut down. I took his threats to heart and I pushed away anyone who tried to ask too much about my past. I didn't even think, if I had used my head for just a moment I would have realized that someone like Makarov or Gildarts could have solved everything in a single afternoon. It should have been so obvious but that thought never even crossed my mind until last night. If I had just spoken up then-" Goku reached up and flicked Erza in the nose. For a moment the girl completely frozen, unable to compute what had happened.

Blink.

Blink.

Twitch.

"You realize of course, that the instant those bandages are off are going to pay dearly for that, correct?"

"You were starting to get grumpy." Goku chided.

"…ugh." Erza groaned into her hand.

"What? You were beating yourself up so I made you stop."

"You're impossible."

"That's what Levy keeps telling me. She says that the stuff I do makes no sense."

"That's not…quite what I meant, but interesting none the less."

"Yeah. She gets really annoyed with me sometimes about that."

"Oh gee, I sure wonder why." The sarcastic tone stalled out the pair's conversation. The two teen turned towards the entryway to see Levy pushing aside the tarp and climbing up to join them. Goku's cheery demeanor wilted somewhat when he saw the vein twitching above Levy's right eyebrow.

"What did I do?"

"What did he do he asks?" Levy said with a shake of her head before leaning up against the wall beside Erza. "Oh I don't know, maybe it was the fact that you went charging headfirst into danger, again. And have, once again, managed to nearly get yourself killed and scared me half to death!"

"Um, actually, Erza's already given me a scolding for doing that, so you don't need to-"

"I have no idea what he's talking about, by all means Levy, let us hear what you have to say." Said Erza, keeping her expression blank.

Goku shot her a nasty look.

Erza whistled back, trying and failing to portray a sense of innocence.

Levy began to puff herself up, even as Goku made every effort to shrink into himself. Levy placed her hands on her hips, looked him in the eye, and deflated.

"You, Son Goku, are going to be the death of me." She sighed.

"I'm sorry." He really _was_ too. He had been careless in dealing with Jellal, if he'd taken the maniac seriously from the start, then he probably could have saved everyone a lot of pain.

"Yeah, I know you are." Levy shook her head, her bangs hiding her hair from sight. "I'm just glad you're all right."

"I'm glad you're all right too."

"Gee, thanks." Levy snorted, "But enough of that, you really shouldn't be talking."

"Agreed." Erza chimed in. "If anything, you should be getting some more sleep. You are not fully recovered yet."

"Right, still a bit sore." Erza nodded and put a hand on Levys shoulder, gently guiding the girl back towards the entrance of the cabin.

"Get some more rest Goku, we'll see you soon."

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Two hours later the Fairies finally returned to Magnolia. Simon and Goku were admitted into Porlyusica's care alongside Makarov almost the moment the wagon rolled into the city. She took the news as expected, swearing and yelling at the fairies who came to her, but nonetheless, settling down to work on healing. Simon still had yet to wake up so he quickly joined Makarov as Porlyusica's constant patient. Goku on the other hand was told that he had two days to pull himself together before she would throw him out.

Which was fine, it gave Erza time to do something important. The Titania worked her way through the side streets of magnolia, stopping every couple of minutes to rest from her injuries. Eventually she stood before a tiny building with an old sign depicting an anvil and a dog.

The first time she had been to this small armory shop had been with Makarov just a few months after she had arrived at the guild. The old blacksmith Mitch had taken one look at her and her Requip magic and had given her one of the biggest, warmest smiles that she had ever seen.

_"Swords and armor both, huh? Most people, they come to me for supplementary stuff, a sword here, chest plate there…but that won't work for you will it? Tell you what, Makarov's been talking you up for the last week, let's make a deal. I'll give you a standing 20% off here and I'll help ya out with custom gear and the like. Then you use my gear exclusively and bring me back any rare gear or weird artifacts you find that I might be able to use. I'm pretty big about recycling old weapons around here." _

_ "I…thank your sir. I accept."_

And so the deal was struck. She had brought him all sorts of things over the years, dozens of broken swords and spears that had gone into the Heaven's Wheel, rare scales and bones that had gone into making her various elemental Empress armors, and even the wings of the a Wyvern for her Blackwing armor. Despite how small his shop was, Mitch had always had a way with making weapons and armor she'd never seen anywhere else.

This time however, she was coming for a very specific reason.

She stepped inside and rang the bell, with a muttered swear she saw the blacksmith come out from behind a counter and look her up and down. "Ah! My best customer has returned!" he paused. "You look like hell."

"You should see my opponent."

"HA! I'll bet that wouldn't be a pretty sight. So what brings you back here? You beat some of my work to pieces again?"

"No… not this time. I was hoping you might be able to help with a repair job." She said as she pulled out a couple pieces of weathered wood from her Requip space.

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_A few days later…_

It took her two months to finally reach Magnolia. Her money had longed since dried up and hunger gnawed away at her stomach. But still, she had made it. Now all she had to do was track down the city's guild and she would be one step closer to finally locating her brother.

Asking the local population for help resulted in laughter and comments such as "Just follow the chaos." Some had taken one look at her sword and just stalked away muttering along the lines of "yet another crazy one."

She was… not quite sure what to make of it.

In the end though, they were right. Once she started moving towards the far side of the city the noise level steadily began to rise. Occasionally a random mage could been seen jumping over the rooftops or dashing across the street but they always were gone too quickly for her to ask for directions. In the end though, there was only one building in the entire city that could house such an eccentric guild.

The place was practically a temple, or even a small castle. A massive orange flag was hung up over the door and the windows were all visibly vibrating from the sounds within. The girl walked straight up and opened the front door, only to immediately dive out of the way of an incoming beer bottle. She turned back towards the entryway and peered into the madness.

The entire building was consumed in a massive brawl. People were literally swinging from the rafters, launching one another across the room, and leaping over the unconscious bodies of their fallen fellows.

"I'm supposed to be getting help from someone who willingly lives in this kind of environment…?" She murmured to herself, eyes wide. Suddenly, Goku's personality made far too much sense. More than a few of her basic survival instincts were screaming for her to turn around, to run away right this moment. But this was still the first time she had gotten so much as an offer for help in years. Any sacrifice would be worth it if she could be reunited with the last of her family. Beyond that, with the instability of her powers now…what other choice did she have?

So quickly she scanned her eyes through the chaos, trying to pick out any sign of her one-time acquaintance. But with all the spells flying through the air and the constant movement of the fighters her attempt was doomed to fail from the start. Instead she spotted a single person standing off behind the bar that wasn't brawling and dashed across the room. The white haired barmaid looked up in surprise at the sudden appearance of a new face but she quickly brushed it off with a smile.

"Hi there, I'm Mirajane, temporary Guild master of this nuthouse. And you are?"

"Kagura." Was her simple reply. Mrajane waited for a moment but when it was clear that nothing else was forthcoming she slowly nodded.

"Well, all right then. What can I do for you today? Are you a new member looking to join? Are you here to place a job? Or are you looking for one of our members?"

"Son Goku."

"All right, what did he blow up this time and how much do we owe you to get it fixed?" Mirajane groaned into her hand.

"Nothing like that, I just have business with him."

"All right, then that makes you either a fangirl or another challenger from another guild. If you're a fangirl I can tell you right now he probably isn't interested. If you're a challenger give me your contact info and I'll set up a match the next time he's in." The vein on Kagura's forehead twitched.

"Neither! I just need to speak to Son Goku!" She growled. Mirajane watched the vein for a moment and chuckled.

"Well, this would be a whole lot easier if you tried to explain things instead of snarling at me." She raised a hand putting off Kagura's scathing response. "Humor me, I promise I won't bite." Kagura scowled in annoyance.

"I met Goku several months ago and he agreed to help me with a job."

"He agreed to do a job? As in an official job pro bono? Generally that means he's supposed to clear it with me first. Though I suppose that after all the complaining I've heard from Makarov over the years I shouldn't be that surprised that the S-class mages are creating extra paperwork for me. Now then, details. What's the job, who's the client and what's the pay?" Mirajane said calmly as she pulled out a pen and notepad.

"…What?"

"The job. You just said you were here for a job. I need information to file away for the records. Once the Council is remade, whenever that will be, I'm not about to have them try and shut this place down just because I didn't file all their forms properly. I just had to deal with some big mess where he helped blow up some weird slaver's tower off the coast, I can take another hit. So come on, what do you have for me?"

"I…this wasn't an official job. I told him that I was trying to find my missing brother and he offered to help." Mirajane seemed to wilt for a moment before she carelessly tossed her notepad over her shoulder.

"You should have said so sooner." She pouted. "If this is something he agreed to do during his free time then officially the guild doesn't need to be involved. But if it's a missing person case I bet you could ask pretty much anyone in here and they'd be willing to chip in no problem! Especially if there is a chance of violence." Kagura made a show of slowly turning to observe the steadily growing mess of unconscious Fairies behind her before turning back with an eyebrow raised.

"Fair enough. Goku lives in a cabin in the woods outside the city. It's just after lunch so he's probably in the middle of a training session right now. Just listen for the explosions, you should find it no problem." Kagura nodded in thanks before zipping back through the room and vanishing out the door.

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"I am still unconvinced that this is a good idea." Erza said shrewdly. Goku just laughed and continued to stretch out him limbs.

"Come on Erza, you have to keep an open mind! This will help train endurance, my Ki control, AND the power of my attacks!" Erza rolled her eyes.

"You are going to fire your Kamehameha Wave, bend it around, and then try to catch it without blowing yourself up. I don't care how much you think that's a good training method, you have just left Porlyusica's care. If you return to her this soon, I do not think she will show you much mercy." Goku shrugged before he flipped up into a one-finger handstand and started pumping out push-ups.

"I can take it." And just like that he was on his feet and the beam was already charging. Erza hesitated for just a moment before she dashed back out of the blast zone. The blue beam shot across the clearing towards the trees. A single moment before impact Goku swung his hand around and the beam curved in a perfect 180 degree turn straight back towards his own face. He stood stock still as the beam rushed towards him with his lips curled up into a smirk. With a roar he reared back and punched the beam as it reached him, bathing the area in a blinding glow.

Erza sighed once more as she wiped to spots from her eyes and turned to survey the damage. All plant life within 20 feet of the blast had been utterly incinerated, leaving behind a film of ash across most of the clearing. A few trees had been bent over from the force of the impact and the cries of panicked animals filled the air. And in the center of all the chaos stood Goku. His hand was trembling and his knuckles were raw and blistered. Yet his smirk still morphed into a full on smile when he began to stretch out his hand.

"So are you satisfied now? Or do you want to try and make the other hand match?"

"Shouldn't I? When you work out don't you always do the same exercise on both sides of your body to make sure you stay balanced?" Erza hesitated for a moment.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else you'd like to do right now? Do you want to go and have one of the meals I owe you right now?" Goku paused and actually frowned at her.

"Erza, you're not supposed to eat in the middle of a workout. You have to do it the whole way through to get the best results. We can go eat after." Struggling to keep her face composed Erza pressed on.

"Very well. But are you really sure that this is how you want to conduct your training right now?"

"Well, we could spar." Erza looked around the clearing and spotted no less than five different trees that had had their bark shredded off when she was flung in full armor straight into them. Others lay shredded on the ground from her own blade. She saw at least a dozen different indents in the ground where one of them had pinned the other down, and a small boulder that had once taken prominence on the clearing's north side now lay in a pile of pebbles.

"…Are you sure there isn't anything else that you want to do?"

"Um…oh! I was trying to figure out a new technique earlier while I was in the hospital. I haven't mastered it yet but it should be pretty cool!"

"…I think I should be annoyed but I am honestly too curious about how you managed to practice some new fighting move in near critical condition without anyone finding out."

"It's not a fighting move! It's just a new trick I've been working on. Took me forever to get the hang of it too, but I had a lot of time to work on it while I was recovering."

"I'm almost scared to see what kind of ability you would take the time to learn if it doesn't relate in some way to fighting." In response, Goku grinned and suddenly levitated himself a foot off the ground. Erza blinked.

"Ah. I see."

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The scene Kagura walked onto fifteen minutes later was of Goku floating in midair with a massive boulder tied around his back trying to dodge the rocks that Erza was hurling at him with machine gun speed. She looked back and forth between the two before she leaned up against a nearby tree to settled in and wait. Twenty minutes later and with Goku sporting six new bruises, Erza finally ran out of ammo. She was idly considering switching to the Heaven's Wheel armor to continue the session when she finally noticed the other swordswoman.

Erza's eyes locked with Kagura, and they both tensed. She could feel the swordswoman taking her measure even as Erza took hers. Most of all, Erza's senses drew her eyes to the woman's blade and the unsettling sense of weight that emanated from it. For a moment, everything grew frigid, muscles tensed, hands drifted towards blades and it seemed as though the air had turned electric. Then the moment passed and Erza nodded. Kagura did the same.

Off to the side Goku finished undoing the knots on his giant weight and shrugged the rock to the ground. Freed from the restraint he finally looked up and noticed the new visitor.

"Hey Kagura, you finally made it over here! Good to see you!" And just like that the tension was ruined. Both of the girls reared back in surprise as Goku practically materialized between them and grabbed Kagura's hand to shake. The girl tolerated her arm being bounced around for a moment before she stepped back as politely as she could out of range. Erza took note of the girl's discomfort and decided to step in.

"Goku, who's your friend?"

"This is Kagura. I met her right after we left Galuna Island a while back." Erza nodded before turning her attention back towards the dark haired girl.

"That's an interesting looking blade. How did it come into your possession?" As Kagura began to explain the origin of her blade Goku tuned the pair out and directed his Ki sense towards the younger girl. Her power was even greater than it had been the last time they had met, yet the connection between her and the blade seemed to be even more unstable. More than that though, her every energy felt as though it had mutated somehow. The change was miniscule but there was still something there, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. So he pushed deeper, directing even more power towards his senses to try and determine the source of the change. There was something…extra floating around in the bond between the sword and the girl, something that had not originally been there that was throwing off their balance. Then he realized that it felt…familiar.

"…I didn't have enough power to finish the process though so he added his own and we were able to stabilize the bond."

"That's it!" Goku exclaimed. "Kagura, you're control hasn't improved at all right?"

"What? I…no." She admitted, shifting uncomfortably. "Despite my best efforts, it has not."

"Have you noticed anything off about your powers at all, anything different?"

"Yes, of course. I have fused my essence with a mystic sword, I just need to properly adapt to it."

"Nope! It's been weeks, which should have been more than enough time. It would have been too if it had only been your power."

"Wait, is this because of your magic then?"

"No, and I think that's the problem. I don't have any magic, I use Ki. As far as we know I'm the only person who can use it. But since I helped to reform the sword my Ki got mixed into the blade, and because of your bond with it you have Ki now too. It's just a little bit, but since you have no idea how to use it it's throwing off your control. Until you figure it out your magic is going to be unstable and dangerous."

"But…no. I don't have time to wait around learning a how to control a whole new form of energy. Not when my brother is out there somewhere still just waiting on me to save him!" She said heatedly. Rather than respond Goku actually slapped himself loudly on the forehead, snapped the girl out of at least part of her rage.

"Right. Can't believe I didn't do this first." And suddenly Goku had grabbed Kagura by the arm and dashed off, dragging her across the forest. Once again Erza found herself sighing in exasperation.

"He'll never change." Then she dashed off after him in a flash of light.

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Porlyusica was putting a new wet cloth atop Makarov's forehead when her door was nearly kicked off it's hinges. The pink haired old woman let out a harsh snarl as she turned to see Goku burst in beside a younger teen. With a vindictive grin stalked up to the pair with a surgical knife in either hand.

"Goku, I believe that I've told you before how much I _despise_ it when people burst into my house uninvited. _Especially _when they don't even have the common courtesy to knock first. I don't have to take care of any of you in casse you forgot, I only help you brats out because Makarov always asks me to. If you tick me off I don't have to take care of you. In fact, I could always just-"

"SIMON!" The girl shrieked. Suddenly Porlyusica found herself toppling over into Goku's arms as the girl rushed past and threw herself beside the bed of her second patient. Her eyes were wet as she just hovered over his prone form, wanting nothing more than to embrace her long lost brother, the last of her family. But she was left paralyzed at the sight of his condition. Her hand hovered uncertainly over the brace wrapped around his chest, hesitating as though the very act of touching him would cause him to vanish. She bite down on her lip in anxiety before she slowly edged her hand up his body to come to a stop atop his forehead. Her hand trailed slowly across his face for a moment, feeling the quiet breath escaping his lips with a soft smile.

Over the course of her journey throughout the past decade she had been beaten down time and time again, both mentally and physically as she carried on through her never ending quest. The constant failures, dead ends, and attempts on her life had hardened her heart, had made her unwilling to allow anyone in. With her brother finally here before her, injured but alive, those walls, just for a few moments, crumbled. With a broken sob she came back and threw her arms around a startled Goku.

"Thank you." she mumbled into his shirt as her tears began to stain the fabric. "Thank you."

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Lucy slammed her head down against the book on her table and groaned. Fifteen. She had checked fifteen different texts about the different spiritual keys so far and had learned more about some of her spirits than she had thought possible from books. But there was absolutely nothing anywhere about the strange red key. Not even so much as a reference or a single hint as to what the little red key's origin could be. Finally the blonde just threw up her hands in defeat.

"At this point, the only way I'm going to learn anything is if I just suck it up and try it out. OPEN!"

…

…

…

A few minutes later a concerned citizen arrived at Lucy's door. He knocked frantically, shouting that he had heard panicked screams and that he wanted to know if everything was alright. It was the very last thing he ever did.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: THE NEW THREAT HAS BEEN UNLEASHED. WHAT FOLLOWS WILL BRING ONLY TERROR. LIMITS WILL BE PUSHED. SPIRITS WILL BE TESTED. CHAOS WILL REIGN SUPREME. AND ALL TO THE SOUNDTRACK OF ACDC.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION…THE RED KEY PART 1: HIGHWAY TO HELL

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DSD&amp;S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

**Omake: S&amp;D**

S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DSD&amp;S&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;DS&amp;D

"Ugh, this isn't fair. I'm getting back from a vacation, I shouldn't feel this exhausted!" Lucy wailed, Opening the doors to the guildhall with Cana and Levy right behind her.

"There, there, Lucy, it's okay." Levy patted her on the back sympathetically. "You know Fairies don't really handle relaxation very well. It's like we can't go anywhere without trouble."

"Well I, for one, feel pretty relaxed." Cana drawled, stretching her hands out above her head. Her eyes narrowed contemplatively. "As a matter of fact, I don't even remember what happened in the fight with guitar guy." She put her hand on Lucy's shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask you about that-"

"OH WOW! There's the bar! Let's go get some food." Lucy shouted, moving across the guildhall in a blur.

Cana stood still, her hand grasping empty space before turning to Levy, who merely shrugged.

Cana shrugged back, sharing in a moment of incomprehension. Before they walked over to join Lucy, who was making an abnormally big fuss of how absorbed in the menu she was.

Aw well, if it was important, Lucy would tell her. She was probably just embarrassed.

"May I take your order," Cana blinked, eyeing the new barmaid who was holding a pen and paper and looking at them expectantly. Cana frowned, giving the woman a once over, she looked vaguely familiar, Cana was pretty sure she'd seen that blue hair somewhere before.

Oh well, if it was important, it would come to her eventually.

"I think I'll have a Sorceress' Sunday." Lucy said, keeping her eyes firmly on the menu. "And to drink, I'll have some water." Lucy looked up with a smile, locked eyes with the waitress, and froze.

"ACKGAFRIGGINWATERLADY!" Lucy shrieked, sounding like a fish trying to play the bagpipes as she lurched backwards, falling off her seat. She hit the ground with a clunk that made Cana wince. Lucy pointed at the waitress, who was doing her best impression of a deer staring into the lights of an oncoming car, as Lucy scrambled backwards until she hit a table.

Cana looked back and forth between the two.

"I, uh, take it you know each other?"

"Know her?" Lucy shrieked, "She kidnapped me!"

"You're…uh… gonna need to narrow it down a bit more there Lu, that's still a pretty broad group."

"She's from Phantom Lord!"

Cana blinked, looking back at the barmaid with a new light. Mentally, she put a dark blue hat on her and put a phantom scowl on her face. Suddenly, it clicked. Oh… crap.

"You're Juvia of the deep!" Cana yelped, suddenly backing up and reaching for her cards.

"Wait!" The woman replied, raising her hands up and looking at them in sudden terror. "Allow Juvia to explain!" It wasn't so much the words, as the pleading in her voice that convinced Cana to lower her cards. Well, that and the fact that she really didn't feel like getting into a fight with an S-class mage right now.

"Okay, let's hear it."

Juvia lowered her hands, gripping the hem of her skirt and biting her lip nervously. "Juvia has joined Fairy Tail." She lifted her skirt up to her hip, showing off inch after inch of creamy white skin until she revealed the guild symbol stamped on her thigh.

_'You have really nice legs,' _saidCana's brain. Luckily, Levy cut in before Cana could say the thought out loud.

"So… Mirajane just let you join?" The word mage asked, raising a brow skeptically.

"Yes… she did. Juvia is still not completely sure why." Juvia frowned, staring down at the ground in thought, before shaking her head and looking back up a Lucy. "Juvia wishes to apologize for the way she treated you Lucy, even if it was under Jose's orders, Even if you are a Love rival. That does not mean it was correct. Juvia begs your forgiveness." Juvia bowed, lowering her head so far she nearly smacked it the counter.

Cana turned back to Lucy who looked less frightened, and now just sort of bemused, as though a grizzly bear had come charged at her, roared in her face, then rolled over and presented their belly for a tummy rub.

"I, uh…" Lucy got to her feet, and scratched the back of her head. "I guess it's not a big deal, I mean if you're one of us now…" Cana smiled; Lucy just didn't hold grudges.

"Juvia thanks you." Juvia said, not raising her head.

"That's, uh, great… so can you get me my order."

"But of course!" suddenly Juvia burst into motion, turning her back on them and beginning to gather the ingredients. Lucy just stared at the blur of motion before sighing and trudging back to her seat. She placed her head on the table and sighed.

"Well isn't that nice!" Levy attempted, prodding Lucy gently.

"Now I'm even more exhausted!" Lucy whined, "I did not need that kind of adrenaline right now!"

"There, there my poor sweet Lucy." Cana grinned, wrapping her arm around her blond friend's shoulders. "I'm sure any moment Natsu's going to burst in and start setting things on fire."

"Shut up Cana. That's not helping."

"I know."


	34. RK 1: Highway to Hell

AN: So I think it is a fair guess that pretty much everyone reading this story is also watching Dragon Ball Super right? I have recently been asked which I prefer, the anime or the manga. I thought that was an interesting enough question to tack on here. Overall, I would say that while the anime has a better wow factor and I love all the throwbacks to the old techniques, however, I by and large prefer the manga. In the anime Goku seems to have 2 settings, cheerfully stupid and explosively angry.

I won't pretend that Goku was a smart person in Z but in the manga at least his truly idiotic moments had mostly disappeared with his age and experience. In the Super anime he acts like he did back in Dragon Ball at age 12. The manga seems to be more in line with how he was at the end of Z, which I feel makes the entire thing feel more in character. In addition, the manga has done a far better job of at least trying to explain the complete jumbled mess that is power scaling in this new series. On top of that, Super Saiyan Blue and God modes feel more fleshed out, we know more about how they function.

AN2: This arc was supposed to start Halloween day…I may be slightly behind where I wanted to be. Oh well.

The Red Key Arc

Part 1: Highway to Hell

Lucy sighed, glaring at the red key. It felt as though she had slogged through every book in the library but was still no closer to figuring out anything about it.

"Alright then, the smart approach has gotten me nowhere, time to use the Fairy method; force it and see what happens! OPEN!" Lucy shouted with the Red Key extended in the air. The key coughed out a single red spark that twirled through the air around her head. Lucy's disappointment about her apparent failure lasted just long enough for the little speck to shoot backward and launch itself straight down her throat.

It had felt as though her heart had burst into flame, pumping hot lava through her veins with every beat. Her body locked up, sending her crashing to the floor as her body boiled beneath her skin. Her breath was coming out in ragged gasps as she choked on her attempts to scream over and over again. She felt the little spark slowly grow into what felt like a lead ball sitting in her gut. Then the ball shuddered and what felt like inky tendrils slithering up throughout her body. As disturbing feeling oozed throughout her body she finally regained control of her facilities enough to scream. It was a bloodcurdling noise that sounded more like it came from an animal than an actual human being. Then just as quickly the dark tentacle reach up through her neck and wrapped itself around her brain. The scream cut short and the girl collapsed to the ground.

The room fell silent. Lucy lay on the ground with her eyes wide open, staring vacantly at her wall. Then she twitched. Slowly her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her eyes began to flutter. Slowly she stat up and looked around the room. She rose to her feet in silence and examined the room, poking at her Celestial Keys with vague interest before turning her attention to the furniture and decorations that hung around the room. She looked down at her own body next and began prodding it in a manner similar to how a scientist examines a cadaver.

As she continued her examination life slowly began to bleed back into her eyes. Her movements slowly became less mechanical and more enthused. After a few minutes she meandered her way over towards the bathroom and looked herself over with a gleam in her eye.

"Not bad at all. Body's a bit weaker that I'm used to, but that should sort itself out in a few hours. Magical power is practically off the charts though, and…" the brown eyes glittered as they examined the magic within Lucy's body, "an affinity for opening portals…is this Christmas? I couldn't have lucked out more if I'd tried." Lucy went on prodding herself for a few more moments when there was a loud knock on the door.

"Hello? Is everybody all right in there? I heard screams, does anybody need help." Lucy smiled and glided over towards the door. She threw it open to reveal an older man that had just long enough for his eyes to widen in surprise before her hand wrapped around his throat.

"Now that I think about it…I do need someone to help me put this body through its paces. Thank you _so _much for volunteering!" With that she ripped the man off of his feet and threw him against her living room wall. Then she put her hand up against the wall and released a pulse of magic. Instant soundproofing. Lucy grinned. The front door slammed closed.

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Goku was standing in a small clearing about a dozen yards away from his house staring at his hands. The white aura of his Ki was roaring around him at full power, the trees around him were swaying violently and the grassed had practically been flattened to the ground from the air pressure alone. Sparks of pale electricity flickered around him wildly, the complete opposite of his calm demeanor.

Slowly Goku inhaled, filling his lungs all the way and holding it. He closed his eyes and turned all his senses inward, allowing his Ki to seep through every aspect of his being. He looked over every part of himself, touching his very essence in a state of utter calm as the Earth shook around him. Then his eyes snapped open and everything turned red.

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Kagura grunted as she crashed headfirst into a tree at just shy of the speed of a bullet. A millisecond later a sword hurtled through the air and pierced through her shirt just a hairs breath above her shoulder, pinning her against the bark. Blearily she looked up to see Erza pointing another katana towards her chin. Weakly the younger girl held up her hand in surrender.

Erza nodded and yanked the blade from the tree. She caught Kagura before she could collapse to the ground and help to set the white clad warrior back onto her feet.

"Your gravity trick was quite effective, it threw off my balance more than I would have liked. And your swordsmanship seems solid. A few mistakes here and there, but nothing that can't be corrected fairly easily." Erza said calmly. Kagura nodded unsteadily. Her arm came up to rest against the tree as she tried to regain her bearings.

"I was defeated in just under five minutes." She replied. "I feel that you might be overestimating me."

"Nonsense. Everyone has to start somewhere. It will take time, but you will master your powers eventually. It is merely a matter of dedication and patience."

"I'm aware of what it will take, I am merely unhappy with the pace. My brother…your medic said that while he will likely survive, the damage to his spine was so severe that he might not walk again. If that is truly the case then I want to be strong enough that I can protect him. I will never allow what happened to him to ever be repeated again."

"I know how you feel, probably better than most." Erza admitted, sighing. "I know how much it hurts to watch the people you care for suffer, but you cannot let it consume you. If you focus on nothing but your own strength, then you will find yourself alone in the end. Right now you don't need to rely on yourself, there are plenty of people in Fairy Tail who would be willing to help you."

"I am not a part of your guild, and I will not even consider joining until I can speak to my brother. But yes, I understand what you're saying."

"Good. Now then-"

FWOOM!

Both the girls were nearly knocked off their feet as a huge shockwave of energy pulsed through the forest.

"What was that?" Kagura asked.

"I don't know…but it came from the direction of Goku's house." The pair dashed off without another word.

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Lucy sparred a quick moment to glance out her window towards the brief surge of power that she felt before turning back to her work. The man had proven to be entertaining for about an hour before she decided to see what would kind of reaction she could get by setting him on fire. The screams had been interesting but after a while he stopped and just made snap crackle pop sounds. Those were far less satisfying.

Now she was playing with the sink. She would dump different amounts of ash into the water and watch as it swirled around the drain, timing how long each scoop took to clear. However, that only lasted until the last of the man was swept away. Now she was wandering around the building, searching for a new way to entertain herself. There were a couple of pictures with interesting looking people that she might want to visit. The boy with the scarf and the girl holding the barrel both looked particularly appetizing. A brand new smile graced her lips at the thought of some of the games that she could play with them. But alas, now wasn't quite the time to lose herself in such mindless fun, she had to be careful not to get carried away after all.

Like these keys… she recognized them, of course—celestial spirits… the power and potential for fun here was just…delicious. It was almost to the point that she was willing to ramp up the speed of her synchronization, just so she could play. But not yet. These thing came with time, and time was something that she now had plenty of. There was no need to potentially damage her new form before she even had time to break it in.

That's when her gaze finally fell upon the tarot card sitting on the dresser. She glided across the room and picked up the slip of paper face down by her nose so that she could give it a sniff. Confidence, alcohol, sass, and just a sprinkle of destruction. Flipping the card over Lucy observed the chibi version of Cana with lidded eyes. At first the miniature girl gave her a hearty wave, but the smile on her face quickly wilted as she saw the ravenous expressed on the spirit mage's face.

It wasn't much, but it would do for a start.

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Goku sat up with a groan. The grass beneath him crunch as he climbed back to his feet, now a dark black from the charring it received by the massive burst of power. His heartbeat was erratic, his arm was pulsing unpleasantly and his head was pounding.

"Okay…was that a timing issue, a regulation issue, or a power issue?" The singed fighter wondered. "Hmm. I think a power issue should have caused more damage to my insides, right? All the power should be directed inwards, the stuff outside is just bleed off. I think I had the timing down too, the pulses were pretty constant. So regulation? Maybe I didn't keep the spread even?" He mused to himself, trying to pick apart the flaws of his newest technique. He was still mumbling to himself when the two sword users broke through the foliage and into the clearing. Erza quickly scanned the clearing and when she saw no sign of danger she sighed and leveled a deadpan stare in her friend's direction.

"Goku…explosion. Explain."

"I was testing out a new technique. Didn't quite get it down yet and blew myself up."

"Of course you did." Erza pinched her the bridge of her nose and blew a sigh. "Is this going to be like the Spirit Bomb fiasco where I had to drag you to the hospital every other day for a month?"

"Hey! I only blew myself up with the Spirit Bomb three times before I got the control down! And I was only a little burnt anyways, you just overreacted."

"Half of your clothes were burned off and you were more bruised than Elfman after that time he tried to simultaneously challenge Natsu and Gray. To this day I cannot fathom how your pants managed to survive that blast…or any other explosion you've gotten caught up in over the years for that matter."

"Just lucky I guess." Meanwhile, Kagura was watching the pair's byplay off to the side with a slight smile. Just being around comradery like this…she could scarcely recall ever having been able to experience such things… it felt nice.

"So what was this technique supposed to do?" She eventually interjected. The pair turned towards and Goku's eyes gleamed.

"You know how those magical cars work by tapping into a source with that drainer cord thing to make the engine run?" Both girls nodded. "Alright, so imagine that my body is the engine and the power source is the Ki I've got stored up. That's how things run normally. But with this technique, it's like I'm adding in an extra one of those cords. So my power gets used up a whole lot faster, but in exchange I get to use a whole lot more at once!" Erza's face slowly scrunched up while Kagura nodded thoughtfully. The red head looked like she wanted to interject but when she saw Kagura going for another question she refrained.

"That would make it some sort of desperation technique then correct? Either that or a way to try and blitz the enemy at the beginning of a battle before they can find their rhythm. Interesting." Goku nodded excitedly.

"The strategic implications are interesting. Since I apparently have access to Ki now, would it be possible for me to learn this ability?"

"Huh. I actually hadn't thought of that. I was mainly thinking about getting you used to Ki first and helping you learn how to access it. But I guess I could teach you my moves too…as soon as I figure out a way to teach them that doesn't explode. Hehehe."

"I believe you are disregarding the negative implications of such a technique…" Erza cut in, crossing her arms. "There are no shortcuts on the road to strength, this technique must have consequences. What are they, and how have you been attempting to overcome them?"

"Power regulation issues mostly. The power boost only lasts for one heartbeat so you have to make sure that you pump energy into it, if you don't keep it flowing then the power up is gone. If I use it for too long or if I overcharge the amount of energy I'm using it will cause my muscles to swell up to about triple their normal size. Found that out about three hours ago and it took half that to fix itself. Real painful too." Erza gave a grim nod, acknowledging the issues. They were harsh but not insurmountable, and Goku would likely be able to overcome them with time. However, Goku wasn't done quite yet.

"The rest is just stuff I'm guessing at, but I'm pretty sure will happen. When I trigger the technique it starts in my heart and zooms through my body with my blood. When it comes back around I have to use it again and again to keep it going for long enough to win. But pushing that much power through my heart probably isn't healthy. It would probably give out after a while with that much power flowing. Worst that can happen though is that if I _really _overpower it is that my body will just sort of blow up. Good thing that hasn't happened yet, right?" Goku chuckled again.

"So not only does it tear your body apart, but it has a multitude of ways to kill you?" Erza arched her brow.

"Um… yeah, pretty much." Goku replied, his tone turning sheepish.

"Goku," Erza shook her head. "There is being reckless, there is being bold, and then there is being foolish. Our guild is filled with people that can be labeled as crazy in one way or another, yet not a single one of them makes use of such a hazardous ability. With how short the boost is, can you even claim that it is worth using?"

Goku opened his mouth, paused at her look, and closed it. He tapped his chin in thought for a few moments in thought before nodding. "Yes, it is. I used it by accident back at the tower. That's how I managed to burn off those weird marks."

"So I am to assume that any attempt to talk you out of using this move would end in failure?"

"Sorry Erza, it has way too much potential. Imagine if I could power myself up like that back when I fought Gildarts, or when we all fought Phantom Lord. If you had some sort of armor that would double your power at the cost of your health, you'd still use it if you were desperate enough."

"Very well. But at the very least promise me that you will not attempt to use it in a combat situation until you have mastered it. It would be quite embarrassing if you were to die by spontaneous explosion while battling a powerful opponent."

"Yeah…but think of the look on their face!" Goku exclaimed. And with that the trio dissolved into laughter. When they picked themselves back up moments later, Goku allowed himself to become serious. He dropped to the grass, crossed his legs, and took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. Then he turned to the youngest member of their group and motioned for her to sit down on the ground beside him.

"Okay. The first thing we have to do is try and get in touch with your Ki…"

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It was the very end of the afternoon, the sky was beginning to turn orange as the sun glided down towards the horizon. Evening was rolling around and the Fairy Tail building was beginning to close up for the night. Mirajane was bustling around, making sure that everything was packed away and locked up and that there were no stragglers hanging around in the building. More importantly, she had to confirm that Cana was actually going home and wasn't hanging around in the shadows to get at the liquor once the doors had been closed.

The brunette was stashed away in the corner of one of the dustier storerooms, well out of sight of the door and hopefully too out of the way for the temporary guild master to find her. Of course, that vague hope went out the window the moment she felt a cold hand reach down and hoist her to her feet by her bra strap.

"Mira! Could you not pull like that, it's not a comfortable position!" Cana complained. Expressionless, Mirajane failed to reply as she dragged the resident drunk towards the doors and chucked her onto the street. A moment later the doors crashed together with a loud slam and a CLOSED sigh appeared over the entrance.

"Well then…back to the apartment I guess." Cana said cheerily as she pulled a small jug of rum out from where she had hidden it in her cleavage. "I expect better from Mirajane, she should be used to that trick by now. It's almost like she wants me to walk off with the guild's booze." With that the girl strolled down the street and towards her home.

When she arrived a few minutes later she kicked off her boots, jumped onto her bed, and downed the entire thing in one swing. As the familiar feeling descended over her mind she let out a happy sigh.

"Oh Yeah, free booze is best booze." She lay there basking in her buzz for well over half an hour before she noticed the buzzing coming from her back pocket.

"Oh come on Lu, you live less than two minutes down the road." She mumbled as she fumbled for her card. "Where's the fire?" Finally she fished out the piece of enchanted paper and held it up to see…nothing. The picture was completely gone and in it's place was a black and gray swirl.

"O…kay. Well that's new." Cana began working her magic, sending out little pulses to try and analyze the problems. Her power vanished into the card but she never felt anything in return. It was like the magic was being swallowed up into a dark abyss, never to return. Frowning, Cana went to cut power from her probe only…she couldn't. Her power kept leaking out, trickling into the card at a snail's pace. The power drain was negligible at best, but it was still noticeable and brought Cana to a pause as she tried to wrap her sloshed mind around the problem.

It is possible that Cana might have been able to been able to concoct a way to free herself. But buzzed, worried about her friend, and finding herself not in control of her magic for the first time in her life, Cana made a critical error. She panicked.

With sweat beading on her brow and a snarl on her lips Cana tried to break herself free from the trap card with sheer force. Her magic swirled around her, knocking books from shelves, empty bottles from her table, and kicking up a whirlwind that began to tear through the room. But as soon as the surge began, just as quickly it vanished, sucked up into the card once more. Cana's eyes grew wide in fear as she felt almost all of her power bleed out of her pores. Then, it returned.

The card glowed for a brief moment before it ejected a spark of pale red light. Cana had to shield her eyes from the sudden burst and an instant later her arms were bound at her side. Her own magic had been reflected back onto herself in the form of a massive wreath of chains that now bound her arms and legs together.

Another burst of her own power sent Cana toppling to the ground. She found herself lying face down on the carpet, mere inches away from her corrupted card. Her inevitable struggles to get free were utterly futile, her own powers kept her locked firmly in place. Then swirl in on the black face of the card began to rotate. It stretched straight off of the paper and began to twirl through the air in a dark vortex. And from it stepped Lucy.

"Wha-? Lu what's-HMMMPH!" Cana's words cut short when the chains suddenly extended up to gag her. Lucy tilted her head and gave a wide smile down to her friend.

"Wrong actually. This _was _the body of a girl named Lucy, but quite recently I have decided to take it for myself. But introductions can wait, right now I require something else: your assistance with a…project of mine. See quite recently I experimented with the fragility of the human body. Now though, I want to see what happens to a person once I've broken their mind." From the moment the girl had begun speaking Cana's eyes had been growing wider and wider with horror and her struggles had begun anew. The thing wearing Lucy's face watched her squirm for a time with a pleased grin.

"Fear is likely a good start. But don't worry, I need to know as many ways of shattering a person as possible. So throughout the night I will break you, remake you, and break you again until I can do it at will. I'm sure that we shall have a great time together. Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. It would spoil my fun early if I allowed you to die." The blonde put her hand to the floor and created another sound suppressing barrier that coated the walls, ceiling, and floor of the apartment. Only then did she allow the gag to vanish. And only then did she allow Cana to begin to scream.

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The alarm in Kagura's hotel room went off promptly at 4:30 in the morning. She pushed aside her covers and went about preparing herself for the day in complete silence. She was out the door by 4:50 and arrived at Goku's house promptly at 5 AM, just as he had requested. The spiky haired warrior was already outside doing stretches. When she strolled up into the clearing around his house he looked up with a wide grin.

"Morning Kagura! Ready to begin training for the day?" The girl gave a quiet nod in return.

"I believe so. I meditated as you suggested last night and I think that I have made some progress in separating out my Ki from my magical core."

"That's good. You're going to want to know what they feel like separately before you start trying to use them. Though once you get the hang of it I can't wait to see what will happen if you are able to get the two to mix together for some of your attacks!"

"I admit, I am…curious with the possibilities as well. Are we expecting Erza this morning as well?"

"Eh, eventually. We have different ways of warming up for workouts so she'll join up with us once we're both all done. She's going to be going through a whole buncha different sword katas for all the different blades she has, workin' on form and stuff. Mine's all about stamina building. Since we are both teaching you stuff you can probably alternate between warmups each day until you get the hang of things."

"Very well. How shall we begin?" Goku grinned at her and stepped aside to reveal a pair of bloated backpacks sitting behind him. He shrugged on the first and motioned her over towards the second. Dubious, Kagura stepped forward and unzipped the bag to reveal a huge collection of rocks. With an eyebrow raised she waited for an explanation.

"Ki is life energy. So the stronger you are and healthier you are, the more of it you have available to use. The more you have, the easier it should be to access. So at least part of our training is going to be getting you into the best shape possible. Now put that on already, it's time for us to go on a run. Set a pace you can handle for a while then follow me."

And so it began. Kagura took three minutes to get accustom with the weight to the point she was able to pick a speed that she could endure and then Goku was off leading her on a merry chase through the woods and into the city. In a matter of minutes sweat was pouring down her face and she quickly realized just how insane her training was going to be. They were playing tag in the streets, something that Kagura had never done once in her entire life, and Goku was laughing like a madman practically the entire way. He slipped through the crowds with such ease and grace that it was almost as if he wasn't even wearing the weights at all. She even paused part way through the 'warm-up' to ask him about it.

"Well, I figured we would start you off light and give you time to get used to things before I really kicked it up into high gear. Today I'm mostly just trying to see what level you are on." It was then that Kagura realized that she was completely out of her league. It was something that had never happened throughout her entire decade of wandering, coming across someone who was her physical better. She was outgunned and found she wanted nothing more than to surpass her teachers.

A wide grin slowly stretched out across her face. For the first time that she could remember she had a goal that wasn't tied to a desperate struggle for family and was instead for her own personal enjoyment. She wanted to improve herself. She would always do her best to look out for her brother, but now this was more than that. It was a matter of self-respect and a desire to live up to those that now believed in her.

She couldn't wait.

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Lucy escorted Cana's dazed frame through the streets as the sun peaked out over the hills. The pair were marching side by side towards the Fairy Tail guild hall. Lucy smiled brightly at each and every person that they passed while Cana's expression matched that of someone experiencing a massive hangover. Of course, that's exactly what Lucy wanted. Better that people make their own assumptions based on Cana's past instead of questioning why the young girl might look so ill.

"Feeling okay, darling?" Lucy asked her companion. Cana's lips twitched upward into something that might have been considered a smile and Lucy beamed right back.

"Good, good. Now, the plan's simple okay? I just need a bit more power if I want to have my friends over so we are just going to hang out together in that guild of ours and wait until enough fuel has wandered in. Thanks to all of those lessons last night I know just how to get everyone to help us out, so we will have plenty of guests in no time at all. Won't that be neat?" Cana's grin stretched even wider. A little boy that had been walking on the sidewalk towards them quickly dashed across the road when he caught sight of all of her teeth.

Cana's head buzzed along as Lucy went on to explain how to handle herself once they entered the building and then began to run down all sorts of back up plans in case things went wrong. But Cana knew that wasn't an issue. There was no way that Lucy could make a mistake, she was just too good. Just like the thick fog that sat in her mind made her feel too good. Everything was perfect and it would all go wonderfully. There was no possible way that things could fail.

When they walked through the doors Mirajane marched right up to the pair and held out her hand expectantly. Cana stared at the empty palm for a moment before her eyes trailed upwards to visit Mira's stern face.

"The bottle Cana. That was from the Master's private stash. It was worth about 3 times as much as what an entire barrel of your usual stuff costs. Pay up." Ah, now things were clear. There was a money issue from before Lucy had visited and given her the nice mist last night. Cana simply handed the white haired girl her wallet without a single care in the world.

Mirajane looked down at the amount of money in her hand with no small amount of surprise. She took in Cana's glass, sunken eyes, her pale skin, her doepy smile. Even her hand had felt clammy when she had handed over the purse. Quickly the temporary guildmaster's expression morphed into one of concern.

"Are you okay Cana? I can get you some water if you want, and Macao will be in soon so he might be able to whip you up something for your head. The girl just continued to smile vacantly. She just shook her head and followed after Lucy like a little puppy towards a corner table. Everything was right, everything was great.

And soon everyone in the entire city would know it.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: FAIRY TAIL HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TARGET TO THOSE THAT LIVE IN THE SHADOWS. MANY WOULD LIKE NOTHING MORE THAN TO TEAR IT TO THE GROUND. LULLABYE BURNED BEFORE IT COULD MAKE THE ATTEMPT. PHANTOM LORD FELL TRYING. NOW…ONE OF THEIR OWN SHALL BRING IT ALL CRASHING DOWN IN THE SPAN OF A SINGLE DAY.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION…THE RED KEY PART 2…HELL'S BELLS


	35. RK 2: Hell's Bells

**THE RED KEY PART 2…HELL'S BELLS**

Kagura was entering her third hour of Ki training, and she finally believed she was making some progress.

For a change of scenery her two temporary teachers had taken her down to the beach and sat her down on the sand facing the water. There she meditated, searching deep within herself beyond her magical core to try and tap into the trickle of Ki that she knew lay dormant inside of her. She had caught sight of it before, a trickle of gold lying in wait within a pool of turquois. Now ever so slowly she was homing in; tracking it back to its source. Her focus was so complete that she was able to completely tune out the carnage behind her.

Being on a beach meant that there was very little in the surrounding area to be destroyed. That still didn't stop the spar between Goku and Erza from turning a fifth of the nearby beachfront to glass. Erza stood clad in her Purgatory armor with its massive weapon across from Goku, standing in a relaxed ready stance with his hands blazing with Ki.

"C'mon Erza, you don't think you're going to hit me with that do you?"

"I don't think it should be too much of an issue. I know your fighting style as well as you know mine after all." She lunged forward and Goku flipped straight over her to avoid the oversized weapon.

"Is that why you broke out the big suit so fast? I was kind of expecting you to go for some of the ranged stuff first." Goku fired a quick Ki blast at Erza's exposed back, only for the girl to bat the attack aside and charge forward once more.

"Please. We both know that you have the advantage at ranged combat, especially since you can now fly as well. No, close quarters is my best option. For now anyways." Goku's hands ignited and he caught the weapon between his palms with a grimace.

"For now?" Erza's muscles flexed as she pushed her blade down and Goku was forced back a step. A small trickle of blood started down his arm from his contact with the blade.

"My next suit of armor is nearing completion apparently. Based on what I have seen so far, it shall outpace every other suit that I have ever worn by quite a large margin." Goku suddenly released his hold and sidestepped Erza's overhead blow. Before she could react he darted in and rammed his fist into her armored chest hard enough to force the air from her lungs.

"That sounds like a challenge." Erza's foot shot out and caught the side of Goku's knee, stunning him long enough for her to bring the pommel of her weapon around to catch him in the side of the head.

"If you wish it to be. I will of course need to test out its capabilities and an opponent will be warranted. I'm afraid that I cannot guarantee your safety, but alas, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make." Goku's punch to the jaw caught her completely off guard…especially when it exploded.

"Huh. I don't know if I've heard you this confident before." He remarked has she picked herself up off the ground.

"Your talk of that new move yesterday gave me a few ideas for add-ons that should work quite well for the armor. I do have to keep up with you after all." The two began to circle, looking for a new opening to exploit.

"Heh. Well, you know me, I'm always up for a challenge." The two tensed simultaneously, preparing to charge forwards when a small sphere of yellow energy impacted the sand between them. The two turned to see Kagura panting heavily with sweat covering her brow and a smile on her face.

"I think…I think I'm ready for the next lesson." She panted. Erza's Purgatory armor vanished in a flash of light and Goku allowed his Ki to settle down to its resting state.

"Wow! That was pretty good, I didn't think you'd be capable of doing Ki blasts like that for a while, but you already got it! I guess we are just moving right along then. Let's see, I guess next we should-"Goku paused for a second as something tickled the edge of his senses. He picked up his train of thought that he just managed to cover up his mistake.

"Actually…we've been at this for a while, it's almost noon, and noon is lunch time. We can break for that. You two can head back over towards the guild, I need to go grab my cash from my house real quick and I'll meet you there. Make sure you save me some good stuff!" And with that Goku suddenly took off in the sky and vanished over the tree line. Erza blinked shrewdly in his direction.

"That… is going to take some getting used to."

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Goku touched down next to the cloaked figure just loud enough to alert the man of his arrive. Neither moved for a long moment, though Goku did have to continuously flex his Ki in order to shrug off his sleep inducing aura.

"Long time no see Mystogan…or should I call you Jellal?" He said it with his familiar, friendly tone but both men knew that he was geared up for a fight. There was an underlying tension in his voice, and the air was slowly growing thick with the feeling of his Ki. Mystogan slowly shrugged all of his staffs onto the ground before stepping away from them with his hands held up in the air.

"Ah… I _am_ Jellal…but not the one that you know. I have been using the persona of Mystogan to avoid the connection to that man."

"Then who are you?"

"I'm sorry, but I am afraid that is my business. Nonetheless, rest assured that I mean neither you nor Erza harm." The two men stood staring at one another for a moment. Goku looked into the man's eyes searching for something and Mystogan matched his gaze with a level stare. Slowly Goku nodded.

"I'll accept that. I know you were far too injured in the phantom war to have been the Jellal at the tower." Goku shrugged. "Either way, I can sense where you are now. If you hurt her or any of my friends, I want you to know that I can _find you_." And with that he vanished back into the sky. Mystogan watched the teen disappear with a heavy heart.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid."

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"So Cana, who do you think will be the biggest issues here?" Lucy whispered to her servant.

"The greatest threat currently within the city is likely Erza Scarlet mistress. She has the greatest mental fortitude, she might be able to resist your influence." Cana pointed her fork over towards the redhead in question as she shoveled an oversized bit of meat into her mouth. Lucy took a single look at the girl and snorted.

"Doubt it." The blonde snorted. "Next?"

"Son Goku is at least as strong and stubborn as Erza. However, he lacks the mind for strategy. Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster are the next most powerful but they are both headstrong and easily angered. As a dragon slayer Natsu might have some resistance to your powers but Gray should fall easily. Mirajane and Eflman are both Take-over mages so they are used to foreign presences attempting to override their own brains, however Mirajane currently lacks the power to utilize her magic. Once she falls Elfman will attack recklessly and will be easily subdued. Levy has a keen mind and a versatile power but she is physically weaker than all of the other powerful mages in the guild. The other blue haired girl next to her is new, but she is an S-class water mage and quite dangerous, I don't know enough about her mental fortitude to tell you about it. Anybody else here is too far beneath my own level to be a threat."

As the pair continued to chat in the corner Goku walked in and came to an immediate halt. There was a dark taint floating through the air. Erza immediately noticed his expression and her hand slowly slipped down to grip the hilt of her sword. Kagura looked between the two and she soon found herself following suit. Across the hall Mirajane's eyes narrowed to sharp slits and she stalked her way towards the three as they uneasily congregated around a table in the center of the room.

Across the town, the old church clock tower's hands finally reached noon. The ancient gears revved up and a massive hammer struck the side of the bell. Like every other day, the sound echoed across the city.

**DONG**

Lucy and Cana rose from their seats and started across the room on opposite sides of the hall.

**DONG **

Mirajane reached Goku's side and hurriedly whispered in his ear.

"You feel it too, right? Something is wrong."

**DONG **

"I feel it, but I don't know what it is. It's…slippery. I can't lock it down."

**DONG**

Elfman saw his sister's expression and slowly stomped over to her side and began to look around the room himself. The rest of the group slowly closed together. The rest of the guild was beginning to catch on to the tension in the air and look around nervously.

**DONG **

"Something seemed wrong with Cana earlier. She seemed off." Mirajane said tightly. Goku nodded and let his senses stretch over towards the approaching brunette.

**DONG**

His Ki reached out for her…and slid right off. There was a dark bubble surrounding the girl, suppressing her completely. It was as though he was at her through the side of an airtight jar.

**DONG **

A single look at Goku's widening eyes was enough for Mira. She gave a sharp nod to her brother and the next moment the man was tackled Cana to the floor.

**DONG**

Muttering erupted throughout the guild and Mira was yelling for order but Goku was tuned it all out. He forced his probe deeper, trying to see past the aura surrounding her.

**DONG**

Nothing he did could punch through, his power was insufficient. So he turned it up. The entire guild feel silent at the sudden violent red aura that filled the room and Erza quickly stepped forward, intent on stopping him as quickly as possible.

**DONG **

Several things all happened at once in the next moment. Goku finally pushed through and was instantly able to track the tendril of darkness back to its source. As he spun around with a warning on his lips Lucy reached the redhead's side and casually poked her finger up against the girl's temple. Her finger flashed red and Erza collapsed like a ragdoll.

**DONG **

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Erza's shrill cry paralyzed the entire room. All except for Lucy, who merely grinned and dug her finger in even deeper.

**DONG**

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_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

Everything Erza knew, everything she felt, it was all nothing but pain. Her entire world was lit up in absolute agony. Every single nerve in her body had been trigger at once.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

Every negative, awful, or even just unpleasant memory she had was suddenly front and center, magnified a thousand times over.

_ Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

Her pleasant memories were quick to follow. Each and every good memory, good feeling that she had every experienced were pulled forth one by one and they were corrupted. Pain leaked into each and every one, putting every positive experience in her life into a shadow of misery. Mental torture went hand and hand with the physical and there was just no stopping it. It burned a relentless path straight through her brain and she couldn't even begin to fathom how to make it stop.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

**STOP**

The word suddenly echoed through her brain and for a brief moment her pain ceased. Instantly her mind was racing to try and figure out what had happened but the moment her thoughts started back up, the pain returned.

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**STOP FIGHTING**

Once again the pain stopped, but this time the respite was accompanied by a feeling of absolute bliss. The warm feeling floated through her body like a pink fog.

But…no. She was a Fairy Tail wizard she couldn't just stop fighting because-

_ Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

**SUBMIT**

_BLISSPLEASUREHAAPPINESS_

No! She was a warrior, she couldn't just-

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

But she-

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

**OBEY**

_BLISSPLEASUREHAAPPINESS_

But-

**OBEY **

** SUBMIT**

** SURRENDER**

_BLISS_

Bliss…obey, submit, surrender

**GOOD GIRL. NOW…KNEEL. **

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Erza's scream echoed through the building for five seconds before it abruptly cut off and she fell to her knees. Goku blurred across the room faster than most could track, picking up the girl and carrying her across the room away from the smirking blonde. Lucy was instantly surrounded as over two dozen mages jumped into position with their magic blazing. Enchanted guns were cocked, fire and frost filled the air, water was summoned, and bestial instincts were called forth. A symphony of powers echoed throughout the room and Lucy stood within it like the eye of a hurricane. Every single eye was trained on her, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Mirajane stared at the thing impersonating her friend coldly.

"Surrender. Only warning." The temporary guild master snarled. Lucy chuckled.

"No." Every single eye in the guild was trained on Lucy. That left them completely vulnerable.

When Elfman had transformed into the Beast, for a brief instant he was forced to loosen his grip on her arms to keep from crushing her bones. It was enough. He never noticed the delightful little card she had palmed until it exploded in his face.

The Beast reared back with a pained roar and suddenly Cana was moving. She slammed an electric card onto Bisca's forehead before anyone could even think to react. Alzack's vengeful cry was silenced just as quickly as a corrosive cloud exploded out of her second card and turned his weapon to slag. Cana did a split to duck beneath a beam of Gray's ice and the blast caught Elfman full in the face just as he recovered. Natsu's fist caught fire and he lunged forward, only for an electrified whip to catch him around the wrist. Natsu turned to see Lucy's smirking grin before she flipped her wrist and sent him crashing into Happy and Macao. Her sword transformed into an electrified spear that she drove straight into Juvia's stomach. The girl was able to avoid being impaled by turning to liquid but the sudden burst of magic coursing through her system turned her into a puddle on the ground.

Across the room Goku saw Erza's eyes flutter open. Reassured of her status he spun around to launch himself into battle. Erza slowly rose to her feet beside him and switched to her speedy Flight Armor. She kicked out, spinning Goku around and looked him dead in the eye as her blade opened him up from hip to shoulder. Goku's eyes were wide with disbelief as his strength fled his body. He took a slight, unsteady step in her direction and slipped on his own blood and collapsed onto his knees.

"You can thank Cana for that, she made a wonderful test subject. We spent the entire night working on that spell together. Has bits of time manipulation in there, four whole weeks of torture compressed into the span of a half dozen seconds. Don't worry if you feel curious, you'll all get to experience it soon enough." Lucy's cheerful tone sent icy tendrils of fear racing through more than one experienced mage. So when Lucy nodded at her second slave, they were too slow to react.

Erza grabbed her best friend of ten years by the hair and spun in a quick circle to launch him straight towards Lucy's outstretched arms. She caught him with an eager grin and brought her glowing finger up towards his temple.

Kagura was the first to shake through the shock. With a flick of her fingers Lucy and her captive suddenly found their gravity reversed. For a brief moment Goku floated free. Then Erza joined the battle for real.

Her elbow crashed into Kagura's side, her foot caught Mira in the nose, and Jet and Droy were blasted onto the second floor merely from the wind pressure of a single swing of her sword. As Kagura hit the floor, Goku came back down right into Lucy's clutches. Her finger made contact with his head and everything went dark.

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Lucy frowned suddenly as her magic circulated through Goku's head. His brain felt…wrong. It was nothing like Erza or Cana's, those were human brains. Human brains she understood, with the right application of pain and pleasure any single one would crumble in no time at all. But this brain…it wasn't human. It was more primal, more savage, with a longing for combat that even some of the more vicious demons couldn't match. To pain and pleasure alike his brain responded to the foreign presence the exact same way. Fight. Lucy pushed more magic into his brain in an attempt to push straight through his defenses.

She found herself standing on the palm of a massive primate. It stared down at her with blood red eyes and its massive tail flicked from side to side in irritation. Then its enormous maw opened wide and with a ground shattering roar everything suddenly went white.

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"RAA! HAAAAAAAAAA!" Goku's Ki surged back in an explosion of white and blasted Lucy clear across the room. The room was filled with the hiss of burning flesh as Goku cauterized his own wound into an angry red scar. Across the room Cana rolled free of a word trap set by Levy and threw a card straight towards the martial artist's unprotected back. Goku felt the weapon coming and responded appropriately. His tail exploded out from his back and snagged the piece of paper right out of the air and returned it to sender.

Cana dived out of the way of her exploding card and Levy capitalized on the opening. The word **RAM **appeared in the air and crashed into the brunette's side, launching her into the wall besides her mistress. Erza immediately disengaged from her 6 on 1 battle with a small contingency of Fairies and took up position to shield her darkened comrades from harm. As Goku's aura settled around him the two sides squared off. The Fairies were still standing, having shielded one another from Erza's wrath. Juvia had begun to reform, her torso sticking out of the floor and anger in her eyes. Elfman's face was smoking, but he looked none the worse for wear as he rallied himself. They gathered around the bar behind Goku while the possessed and the corrupted stood beside the stage.

"Interesting…" Lucy said with a hint of wonder. "You aren't human, you aren't demon. You aren't any subspecies or race that I've ever heard of…what are you? When this is all over, I think that I'll have to cut you open. There's so much that I can learn!"

"Everybody stay back! We are getting in each other's way more than we're actually hurting them!" Mirajane called out. "Goku, restrain Erza. Natsu, burn up every single card Cana has before she gets a chance to use them. Everybody left standing, if you are an A or B rank you're after Lucy. C and lower try and help out the wounded." Lucy let out a loud, dramatic sigh and pointed tiredly at the white haired girl.

"You talk too much." A beam of red light shot across the room from her fingertip and struck Mira straight in the forehead.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

Elfman watched in horror as his sister twitched once and sank too her knees with an expression of unfathomable sorrow.

"I'm so sorry for causing you distress mistress, please forgive your pathetic servant for daring to question you." Mira whispered uncertainly. Her younger brother stared helplessly at her. It just couldn't register in his mind. The strongest, most headstrong person he knew, the one he respected above all others, she was suddenly gone in a single moment and there was nothing but an empty shell left in her wake. With the animalistic urges of the beast already hovering in the back of his psyche, the image was all it took to drive him utterly mad. The Beast rushed forwards, growing with each step until his head was scrapping the ceiling as he went in for a massive, crippling punch.

Lucy caught it bare handed and threw him straight through the back wall. Her whip quickly followed and wrapped around his throat with enough electricity running through it to take down a full grown elephant. The monstrous teen shuddered violently and went still. Mirajane took the opportunity to quickly dash across the room and took cover by her mistress's side. She never even gave her brother a second glance.

Goku'd had enough.

"Gray, we're playing defense. Ice up shields, keep those red beams away from everybody. We don't know who they will and won't effect. Natsu, you're still on Cana duty. Don't give her the chance to set up. Kagura, Juvia, keep Erza off me. I'm ending this now." He stalked across the room with his aura crackling. The earth itself seemed to shudder with each and every step and the ladies around Lucy tensed as they prepared for combat. The blonde waved them down and began to stalk across the room herself.

"You three only attack if they attack first, understand? I won't need your help for this."

They met at the very center of the guild. The older, more experience warrior stared down at the endlessly smiling blonde. Then he buried his fist into her gut. The girl stumbled back in surprise at the sudden blow and lashed out with a punch of her own. Goku ducked beneath it, kicked her in the face, and then grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her nose first into a nearby table.

"…What?" The blonde stuttered.

"You're a lot stronger than you were yesterday." Said Goku, almost conversationally. "Any one of those hits would have knocked you out before. The power behind that punch, you're easily on my level, maybe a bit higher. But you have no idea how to fight hand to hand. Your just messing around because you think nobody can hurt you." Goku cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to show you just how wrong you are."

Lucy eyed the teen for a moment and calmly wiped the blood from her nose.

"Okay…I'll be serious then." She caught Goku's next punch between two fingers, pulled him in close and smashed her forehead against his own. Goku stumbled back in pain and took a blast of red energy to the chest for his trouble. He blurred out of sight before Lucy could move again, bouncing all around the guild hall at speeds that most couldn't track. Lucy's eyes darted around following his movements and ducked his attack from behind the moment he moved in to attack. She spun around to retaliate and found herself face to face with a glowing yellow ball of Ki.

The Fairy Tail contingent cheered as Lucy peeled herself off the wall and Goku gave a tiny nod of acknowledgement towards his fellows before he allowed his mind to sink back into the flow of battle. He was keeping his cool, but he could already tell that her powers surpassed his own. Not only that, but she was still getting stronger. Whatever had taken over Lucy, it wasn't used to her power yet, she wasn't used to how her body was responding. As time goes on she would grow more accustom to her new abilities and she would become deadly. This fight had a time limit going and it was counting down far faster than the warrior was comfortable with.

There was no time to play around.

"RAAAA!" The middle of the room became a twister as Goku's power hit its peak. Then he vanished and Lucy was launched into the air. She was pinballed around the room by an invisible force, bounced off the walls, crashed against the ceiling, and struck again and again until her entire body more resembled a giant bruise than an actual person. After a solid 5 minutes Goku reappeared and allowed Lucy to slide to the ground. His gaze slide from her prone form to the three women standing in shock along the back wall.

"Okay, so are you guys going to give up or do my friends and I have to beat you up first?" He asked. Then Lucy whip came up, caught him around the throat and slammed him into the ceiling with a burst of blue electricity. She rose up to her feet with two objects in her hand. The red key glowed side by side with the golden celestial key, yellow mixing with red to release a putrid brown into the air.

"Open, Gate of Corruption! Corrupted Gate of the Bull, Taurus!"

"MOOO!" The creature that emerged from the portal looked nothing like the black and white perverted Minotaur had harassed so many of the local girls. Instead it was towering creature that's head almost touched the ceiling. A shaggy monstrosity with puke-green fur, horns the size of claymores, and a wooden club littered with vile looking metal spikes and wrapped with barbed wire. Goku pulled himself from the ceiling and ripped the whip away from him. He landed before the massive beast in a ready stance. Lucy's wounds were already healing, her bruises were gone, any cuts and scrapes were sealing up, and her power was on the rise once more. But before he could do anything else, the bull man would have to fall.

"Guys…light him up." Over two dozen spells flew over his head and crashed into the monster's chest. There was a flash, a bang, and then there was a smoking crater on the ground where the bull had previously stood.

"Oh." Lucy blinked, puffing out her cheeks in disappointment. "That really didn't last long at all did it? I was sort of expecting more out of him. But I suppose that's what I get for picking one of the lesser spirits. Let's see, which one should I pick nex-AAAA!" As Lucy was reaching down for the next key Goku blazed forward and slammed his fist into her jaw. Her teeth crashed closed with a loud 'CLACK' and a bit of bloody flesh tumbled through the air.

"ROCK!" Lucy's body was already regenerating the flesh it had just lost but she was nowhere near recovered enough to defend against the sudden jab into her eyes.

"SCISSOR!" Spitting blood and blinded, Lucy was utterly helpless as the final blow came in.

"PAPER!" The open palm strike caught Lucy dead on in the chest, forcing his Ki straight through her body. The air rocketed from her lungs, blood exploded from her mouth, and her heart skipped a beat as his power sent her crashing back into Mirajane. Then the entire room was bathed in blue.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" Erza leapt in front of the attack and slammed the shield halves of her adamantium armor together. The green glow of the seal took the beam head on and Goku frowned as he watched his attack fade away into nothing. On the plus side though, Lucy had finally stopped smiling.

"Crazy bastard. Doesn't this body belong to one of your friends? Are you actually trying to kill her?"

"…To be fair, I don't really know her." Goku shrugged "Like, at all. But I do know that she's a Fairy. I know she'd rather we do whatever it takes to stop you rather than let you have your way. Mostly, I was just trying to figure you out."

"Figure me out?" Lucy echoed, quirking an eyebrow. "You were experimenting?"

"It never takes me long to figure out how my opponent fights. But you're still trying to figure out what you can do as well, so it's a little harder than normal to pin you down. Your power is greater than mine now, but you still don't know how to use it." Goku cracked his neck. "You can't win. Now tell me, who are you?"

"Me? Just a lesser demon, class 3 to be precise. I'm called Flute. I'm the one that figures out how all the new toys work so that everybody can get the best screams out of them. Once I've conquered your city, razed your guild, and taken all your friends, I can't wait to see what it will take to finally make you scream."

"I won't give you the chance to find out."

"It's not you decision to make. Erza, quantity over quality please." The red head nodded and her defensive armor vanished in favor of the shining form of the Heaven's Wheel. Her hands were empty though, and there wasn't a single blade of any kind anywhere near her. Instead she just stood with her arms outstretched, aimed at the free Fairies. For several seconds nothing happened and the people crouching behind Gray's ice barricades began to mutter in confusion. Then every single weapon that they might have carried was enveloped in a white light. Confusion was replaced by panic and with a twist of her wrist upwards, Erza sent ever single weapon user in the guild rocketing up into the air. Kagura countered quickly, doubling her own gravity and anchoring herself to the floor.

Everyone else was helpless as Lucy began to fire. Goku flew upwards to try and intercept some of the shots but every time one connected their suspension was cut short and they dropped down on their former friends, attacking wildly. The guild quickly devolved into a frantic melee as everyone who was left struggled to stay free. Bisca fell down atop of Gray and his concentration slipped just in time for Cana to unleash every single blasting card that she had in her disposal. Natsu unleashed a torrent of flames but some slipped through and the barricade was shattered. A beam of scarlet light shot through the shards of ice and scattered water everywhere.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

"Shit! This is looking bad guys, we're running out of people!" Gray shouted as he tried to reestablish their defense. Erza's Flame Empress Armor tore through his icy shields as fast as he could put them up though, and the shirtless teen was forced to dive out of the way as one of Lucy's torture magic blasts almost clipped him in the shoulder. Natsu was laughing manically as he charged through the guild hall, taking down every single person that came after him. Three bursts of the torture magic struck him in the chest and his grin only widened when he failed to feel anything.

"Ha! You think a little flash of light is enough to take a Dragon Slayer down?" Natsu cackled. "Come on Goku lets take'em all down with one blow!" Natsu punched outward, Engulfing Cana in a massive fireball. The resulting explosion finally knocked the brunette out of the fight, but Natsu's celebrations were cut short as streams of water of rose from the ground, coiled up his body and shoved their way down his throat. Natsu choked, his flames spluttering as his body heaved for air and his lungs filled with water. Natsu collapsed, his flames extinguished, and the water streamed upwards forming into Juvia.

"Drown the love rival!" Juvia screamed, her head snapped around staring wildly at the other Fairies. "More love rivals?" she screamed. "Die!"

Juvia tore through the remaining Fairies like a force of nature. None of their efforts phased her, passing through her body like pebbles in a pond. With a simple swipe of her hand, the pipes beneath the floor shattered; forming geysers of water that knocked helpless fairies right into Lucy's line of fire. Levy didn't even have time to defend herself before she found herself airborne with a glowing red beam barreling towards her forehead.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation _

She rose from the ground with a cruel grin on her face and her quill danced through the air. A massive phoenix, its wings tinted with black fire, erupted from the feather and caught Goku in midair. Completely blindsided by the suddenness of the attack Goku's defenses were finally overwhelmed and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. The defenders of Fairy Tail were momentarily stunned as they watched their strongest remaining fighter fall. Levy was quick to capitalize on their hesitation. Chain Letters reached out and grabbed her teammates. Jet and Droy and the two quickly fell victim to Lucy's enslavement. And that spelled the end of the battle.

"**TEAM SHADOWGEAR'S UNISON RAID: BLAZING JUNGLE ENCYCOPEDIA!" **Jet was not a powerful mage. In fact, he was easily one of the single weakest members of the guild. But he was without question the fastest. He vanished from sight with dozens of vines in his arms, each and every one covered with words of imprisonment. The guild found itself strangled in plant matter and the remaining fighters wasted no time in trying to cut their way free. But then Jet came to a halt in front of his mistress with a final vine in hand. The word CHANNEL was repeated over and over again across its length. With a smile the girl poked the plant and everything went crimson.

_Painagonyanguishtorturesufferingtormentmiseryagonizeexcruciation_

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Five.

When the smoke cleared, only five fairies remained unbowed to the demon's will.

Goku's unknown alien physiology.

Natsu's dragon slayer magic.

Gray's necklace, a small piece of his teacher sitting against his chest.

Elfman's inner monsters.

Kagura's soul link with her legendary sword.

They had survived with their minds intact, but it was a hollow victory. Now these five kneeled, their heads bowed as their former friends stood around them.

"Now see, isn't this so much better?" Lucy chuckled. Her wounds were completely gone as she stood before the final, battered members of the opposition. "You all tried so, so hard to resist me. But it feels so much better to just give into the bliss. Isn't that right, my pets? It's just a shame that none of your friends here can allow themselves to experience it.

"YES MISTRESS FLUTE!" The group chanted back to her, surrounding the beaten fairies. Goku was without question the worst off, the massive wound across his chest had opened once more and blood loss was becoming an immediate concern. His body was burned, bruised, and nearly broken.

The rest were hardly any better. Between Erza and Juvia's overwhelming strength, the guild's massive brawl and Flute's incredible power, they were all lucky to be alive. Though, as Lucy's body dragged her eyes up and down their forms muttering about experiments, several of them thought that it was rather poor luck indeed.

"Guys…hold on tight." Goku suddenly said. Flute's muttering was cut short as she stared at the teen incredulously.

"Hold on tight? Really?" Flute cackled. "What are you going to do? Carry them out the door?" She laughed, her enslaved fairies quick to follow suit, even as Erza's eyes narrowed in suspicion. When Goku's hands started towards his face her expression shifted quickly to alarm.

"Mistress, he's about to-"

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Natsu's attack blasted towards Erza, distracting her as Goku raised his hands and blasted a hole in the ceiling. Then his hands dropped down to his face.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

By the time Flute's Fairies' sight recovered, the five were long gone.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: THE FALL OF FAIRY TAIL WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. WITH THEIR COMBINE STRENGTH, FLUTE HAS FINALLY AMASSED ENOUGH POWEER TO TEAR STRAIGHT INTO THE DEMON REALM. AS THE FORCES FROM HELL AMASS WITHIN MAGNOLIA, THE REMNANTS OF FAIRY TAIL COME TOGETHER AS ANOTHER GROUP OF FIGHTERS TRACKS DOWN GOKU'S GROUP. BUT THEIR INTENTIONS ARE NOT COMPLETELY PURE, AND SOON GOKU WILL FIND HIMSELF TRAPPED IN A BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE OF NOT ONLY FAIRY TAIL, BUT THE ENIRE WORLD.

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION… THE RED PART 3…THUNDERSTRUCK


	36. RK 3: Thunderstruck

AN: Ladies and Gentlemen, the third chapter in as many weeks. God damn I am on a roll. I probably won't be able to keep it up for much longer with the next semester of college approaching, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

**THE RED KEY PART 3…THUNDERSTRUCK**

Porlyusica glared down at her patient and seethed.

It had been over a month since Phantom Lord had attacked. A month since Makarov had fallen into her care. At the time she had predicted that a month would be the absolute maximum for how long it might take for him to be back on his feet.

That deadline had officially passed as of yesterday.

Porlyusica had been wrong.

Porlyusica _hated _it when she was wrong, and she _despised _it when she couldn't figure out why. His magic had completely returned, his wounds fully healed—from what she could tell, he was completely and utterly healthy. There was no reason for him to still be unconscious, and yet there he was.

She felt useless.

There was a loud thunk outside and she closed her eyes in aggravation. That of course was another reason she needed her old friend back on his tiny feet. He acted as a dam for the constant stream of utter morons in his 'family' from seeking her out every time one of them got themselves a boo-boo. The pink haired medic allowed a snarl to form on her face and stalked out to meet her newest intruders. Her pre-rehearsed verbal tirade nearly died on her lips when she saw the miserable condition of the five teens that had staggered up to her door.

"What the hell happened to you lot? Did that new master of yours really let things get so out of hand that you brats can get this messed up from a brawl? When I was your age-"

"The guild was invaded by a demon that had the power to enslave people." Goku cut in. His tone was flat and his eyes looked dead. "We're the only ones left."

Porlyusica's pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation.

Why couldn't Makarov have woken up?

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Erza was gearing up the instant the fire had cleared from her eyes. Her Blackwing armor burst into existence as she began to bark orders to her fellow thralls.

"Everyone who is still fit, prepare for pursuit! We shall not allow them to escape Mistress Flute!" All around her the Fairies prepared for action and made to charge out the door when Lucy's voice rang out through the building.

"Belay that." All action halted the instant the words reached their ears.

"Mistress?"

"We don't have time to waste chasing down a few strays right now. When the plan is moving forwards and I'm not quite as pressed for time, I will be quite interested see how some of my tracking experiments might work against a man capable of flight. But for now, I need as much magical power as possible to initiate phase two, and that means that every last one of you is staying until we are done. After all…I can hardly pull off an entire invasion by myself."

"Of course mistress, as you command." Erza said.

"Good. Besides, think about who left. Four macho idiots and an emotionally damaged swordsman who can't use her sword. I'd bet quite a bit of Zeni that the first thing they do once they feel they've healed up enough is come charging straight back here."

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An entire day passed and the children sat around almost entirely in silence. They just ate, slept, waited for their turn to be healed, and stared off into space. Porlyusica had burned through practically all of her magic getting the five into the best shape that she could. Now at least looked more like disheveled teens after a week straight of work instead of something out of a meat grinder. The remainder of her power had gone into triggering the protective wards that she kept around her home. They had been there ever since she had been informed of Rob's disappearance, and until this day they had never been triggered.

Once again the old woman sighed. Why couldn't Makarov wake up? She was useless in this kind of situation. She had always been more of a support mage while Makarov and Rob had always been the meatheads leading the charge. All she could do was offer the last few kids a chance to rest and as much advice as she could convince them to take.

Not that they were in any state of mind to listen right now.

Natsu and Elfman were on their feet, squared off and glaring at Gray and Kagura, the latter of which was sitting by her brother's bedside. Goku was sitting quietly in the corner, his eyes closed in concentration in what she could only guess was that Ki sensing ability of his. She couldn't even tell if he was aware of the pointless shouting match going on just a few feet away from him.

"Those are our friends down there you cold-hearted bastard! There is absolutely no way that I'm gonna just wait around. We have to try and save them!" Natsu shouted. Gray's glare turn glacial as he hissed back in response.

"How?" Gray demanded. "The only way we are going to get at that Flute bitch is straight through all of our friends. Can you seriously tell me you are okay going back there when every single person we care about will be actively trying to kill us? I've known Cana longer than everyone here, she and I have been friends pretty much since the day we met. But that didn't stop her from trying to shoot a bolt of lightning bolt straight through my eye! We can't just charge in, we need some sort of plan! Find Guildarts, call on some other guilds! I know Blue Pegasus would help the moment we mentioned Erza was in trouble. But we can't just charge straight in."

"And give them time to dig in?" Elfman snarled. His teeth had slightly elongated and his muscles occasionally bulged as he tried to keep the Beast in check. "Coward, who knows what she is planning? At least we know we're immune! That means we can try to fight back and stop her! My sister is back there! My family! Who would we even turn to for help? The other guilds are all days away and the government is still in debate on who to place in the magic council! Even if we could get to them, what's to stop Flute from just taking control of them too? Have you even stopped to consider that?"

"This is hardly the first demon outbreak, else demon extermination missions wouldn't be so common." Kagura interjected. "There are professional demon hunters scattered all over the country: Etnad the Scarlet, Bayonet the gun mage, there are options. If not, there is supposedly a small branch of scholars that worked for the council who study mind magics. It is possible that they could assist us in freeing everyone else."

"Oh yeah?" Natsu snorted, sending flickers of flame into the air. "Well who the hell asked you? This is a guild problem, and you aren't part of it, remember? We already asked and you said 'I'm just here for my brother.'" Natsu jabbed a finger at the unconscious mage and Kagura instinctually positioned herself between them. "Remember that?" Kagura blinked, startled at the venom in Natsu's voice. She opened her mouth to respond but Natsu was quick to talk over her.

"This isn't even your problem! You can go if you want, but Fairy Tail doesn't turn its back on its own! I don't care how bad it looks, at least I'm going to try! Lucy wouldn't even be in this guild if it wasn't for me! If I hadn't run into her that day this never would have even happened!" That was enough. Porlyusica stepped forward right up into the pink haired teens face.

"From what Makarov told me, the first thing you did when you met Lucy was stop her from getting herself enslaved. Twice even. Would you rather have not met and left her to that fate?"

"What!?" Natsu sputtered, enraged at the very thought. "Of course not, but…damn it this might actually be even worse!" Natsu sat down hard on one of her kitchen chairs. "I have to do something." He said tiredly. "You can't change my mind, this is at least partially my fault. Even if I die…I still have to try and fix things. No matter what, I won't let things stand."

"I feel the same way." Elfman said. "It feels like we are betraying them just sitting here waiting for our wounds to heal. If we actually left now…I wouldn't be able to take it. Every single monster in my blood is screaming right now, telling me to charge down there. The second my wounds are healed I want to go charging out of this forest to try and save everyone. That demon, it's her magic that did this. If we could take her out; that might fix everything."

"That depends entirely on whether she was telling the truth about her powers or not." Gray said. "If it was just simple mind control that be fine but…she said it was some sort of torture. If that's true, then just taking her out won't solve anything."

"That why we need the mind mages!" Kagura continued. "They might be able to undo all of this. Even if it really is some sort of mental torture, it is still a form of mind magic. They might be able to remove the effects!"

"Do you even know where to find them? What if they are somewhere weeks away?" Natsu asked. "Would you really be fine with just leaving things as they are? What if they decide to start going after the people in the city? Or if even more demons show up? Nobody would be able to fight back. Who knows how many people could die?"

"Would you guys stop bickering?" All conversation in the room halted as the four teens and the aging medic turned to watch Goku clamber back to his feet.

"We're trying to figure out whether we should go for help for try and fight everybody as is." Gray said calmly. He knew, given enough time, he could talk Elfman and even the flamebrain around to finding another way. But if Goku took their side, then that was it over; they'd all just charge straight back in and lose.

"We've just given them an entire day to prepare themselves." Goku said simply. "If we don't attack before the end of the day, we probably won't be able to win at all."

"We already talked about that Goku, the mind mages might be able to undo all of Flute's control." Kagura said.

"Well, that's the problem right there."

"How the hell is getting a bunch of reinforcements that can free everybody a bad thing?" Gray demanded.

"You said might."

Silence reigned for a moment before Kagura's eyes slowly closed.

"I see." She nodded, accepting the point. She patted Simon's chest once before reaching over and grasping her sword. "We shall have to attack then." Natsu and Elfman both let out enthusiastic cheers while Gray inclined his head towards the girl, waiting to hear her explanation.

"We have been basing all of our arguments on conjecture. We _might _be able to find the mind mages who _might _be close enough to travel to Magnolia to help out and _might _willing to make the trip. Then once they get here they _might _be able to save our friends minds' and _might _have a way to allow us to defeat Flute. Meanwhile, her forces have the potential to grow the longer we wait. Her objective is completely unknown and could feasibly be completed in the time we would take finding those mages."

"That's fine and all, but we still can't rush in." Gray stated. "The numbers are still badly skewed in their favor, especially since Flute seems to be borderline double S rank."

"Whatever they're doing, nobody's left the guild at all in the last 24 hours. They might need something in there." Goku said.

"If that's the case…well we already built it up once." The grin on Natsu's face couldn't be called anything but gleefully maniacal. The group looked around at one another. Nobody seemed to be in disagreement. In a flurry of motion they grabbed what little gear they had and headed out the door. They made it thirty feet before the sky started to bleed.

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While the free Fairies had been healing and debating, Flute had been working relentlessly to initiate the second phase of her plan. Her thrall had torn apart their own headquarters on her command. Every table had been reducing to kindling, the bar had been smashed and all of the liquor had been gathered together to serve has fuel for the three dozen demonic torches that she had spread out on the walls. The wood furniture had been reduced to a mass of saw dust, which had then been coated with a blood offering from every last mage in the building. Juvia added enough water to the mix that it turned into a sort of pulpy sludge that Flute then meticulously painted across the floor in a massive seal. She spent hours down on her hands and knees with a small brush, carefully applying the mixture down into precisely the form that she needed. Erza stood beside her, grinning mindlessly as she held up a barrel of the sludge to give her mistress easy access while the rest of the mages waited along the wall, set up like mannequins with empty grins as they awaited their next orders.

A total of 22 of the 24 hour respite she had since successfully taking the guild was used painting the symbol. But she knew, without a single doubt, that the worth was worth the reward over a thousand times over.

The instant the seal had been completed, Flute's marionette mages lined up around the circle. Erza and Juvia flanked Flute's left and right sides respectively and placed their hands on her shoulder. The remaining mages linked hands around the circle and began channeling their power straight through one another, directly into Flute's body. With the entire guild's power at her back she forced ever single drop straight into the circle. Red light slowly creeped across the seal, transforming it into an eldritch, glowing ooze that soon filled the entire room with a sinister glow. The floor supporting the symbol crumbled away to ash. For a brief moment Flute could see the guild's basement but then she held the red key high and the symbol wrapped around itself into a swirl vortex of red and black energy.

A portal.

A small wisp of black smoke slowly curled its way out of the vortex and hovered in the air, darting back and forth amongst the various Fairies. As it passed Flute she gave it a little pet and it seemed to twitch beneath her fingers before it shot forwards, straight down Erza's throat. The girl collapsed to the ground twitching, much like what Lucy had experience two days before. Unlike Lucy though, Erza's mind had already been beaten into submission, so in no time at all she was climbing back to her feet and giving Lucy's body a spine-crushing hug. As the two girls embraced one another the portal began to sputter. It winked out once, twice.

Then it erupted.

A colossal red beam punched upwards, straight through the roof and into the sky. Instantly a mass of cloud sprang into existence, a twirling formation circling the guildhall and completely blotting out the sun. The red light spread outward like an infection, coating everything in a miserable red shade. Flute laughed in glee as massive crimson spheres dripped from the sky all across Magnolia. The very first one came down right above the guild. As it approached the ground it shattered into several dozen pieces, and each of the smaller fragments quickly found a home within a mages. Like Erza these new demons were able to take their hosts in only a matter of seconds. The rest then grouped to gather to watch in delight as the rest of the sphere descended on the townsfolk.

Their excited cheering was soon drowned out by the terrified screams echoing throughout the town.

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Gajeel had been restlessly pacing back and forth through the apartment for the last half an hour. Boze and Sue, slightly more used to Gajeel's slightly less violent tendencies, were taking full advantage of the situation.

"It's seriously cute, right? He's like a worried mother just waiting for her teenage daughter to get home to grill her about why she stayed out all night." Sue chuckled.

"Nah, it's more like a dog waiting for its master. He just keeps going back and forth, and when she finally walks through that door he's going to jump up and start begging for food and a belly rub." Boze chortled in response. Gajeel just snarled at the two as they laughed at his back.

"Oh sure, I'm so sorry that I actually care when our friend disappears. If either of you two ever up and vanish without a word I'll be sure to make all sorts of jokes and not give a shit."

"Aw, look at that." Sue cooed. "Mr. Heavy Metal can dish it out for years no problem, but one little joke back his way and he gets all bristly." Gajeel scowled right back and seriously considered beating their heads together when the world suddenly turned scarlet. The lightning sobered up the mood pretty quick and all of them were on this feet in an instant.

"Anyone know what the hell this is?" Gajeel growled, his ears twitched as he began to hear screams of panic start up in the distance. It started quietly at first, but pretty soon the other two ex-phantoms could hear it too. Then as though someone had flicked a switch, the panicked cries of people in terror and agony drowned out all other sounds. The three exchanged worried glances, hoping that one of their comrades would know what to do. As a result, they were completely unprepared for the three wisps that phased straight through their ceiling and into each of their mouths.

Boze and Sue collapsed instantly, screaming in agony as the foreign presence wormed its way into their bodies. Gajeel hunched over in pain for a moment; he tried to cough, hack up whatever'd just shoved its way into his body.

Then everything disappeared.

He was in a desert. An inky black presence was slithering its way through the sand around his feet. He attempted to call forth his magic, but there was nothing there. Just an empty fuck-load of nothing where his iron should be. Gajeel stumbled backward and the inky blob of shadow slithered forward almost gleefully.

Gajeel stumbled, and the blob rose, towering over him. Then it paused.

, The hairs on Gajeel's neck rose as he sensed something behind him. He craned his neck and felt something inside him lurch.

"Me…Metalicana?"

His voice came out like a whisper.

The dragon's responding roar was anything but.

The shadow lunged for Gajeel. Metalicana's neck arched. It's jaws snapped.

Everything went white.

Gajeel's eyes snapped open just as Boze and Sue began to climb back up to his feet. For a brief moment Gajeel made to step forward to help them to their feet when something set alarm bells ringing in his head like firecrackers.

They _weren't_ complaining.

He back-stepped instantly and sprouted metallic scales all over his body.

"Well, I don't suppose you guys managed to shrug that shit off did you?" He asked in resignation. The other just tilted their heads at him in mild confusion and not a hint of mockery—which was pretty much all the confirmation he needed.

Gajeel decided that it was time to cut his losses. He jumped straight through the window and fell three stories down to the street below.

Fallen bodies surrounded him. Dozens of people were spread out up and down the street, twitching in agony. Then, one by one they rose back up to their feet, each and every one of them grinning widely at the dragon slayter. Slowly they began to move in, surrounding him on all sides.

"Hell, screw it then." Gajeel's arms morphed into iron bars. "COME ON!"

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The demons that charged into the forest ignored the five Fairy survivors entirely. Instead half a dozen black wisps charged straight towards Porlyusica and her two comatose patients. Goku and Natsu leapt into action, but before they could move the wisps slammed against an invisible barrier. Porlyusica snapped her fingers and the air crackled with a white lightning, ripping the wisps to pieces.

"Filthy things." She hissed, glaring at the blacked soot staining her floor.

With the immediate threat gone, the Fairies turned their attention back toward the direction the creatures had come from.

Magnolia had fallen silent.

"Holy crap." Gray murmured. "They just took the entire city."

"Our numerical disadvantage has just gone from challenging to near impossible." Kagura stated. Despite her calm, Porlyusica and Goku could both easily see the girl's shaking hands. Goku quickly focused his energy and began to send out feelers with his Ki, hoping that some way, somehow, somebody might still be free. The amount of demonic energy coming off of the city completely overwhelmed his senses and he was quick to direct his search elsewhere. He began looking around the edge of the city, trying to find anyone who might be trying to flee.

After a few moments, his efforts were rewarded when he focused in on a set of four familiar power signatures. The Fairy Tail survivors watched as Goku's face suddenly split into a wide grin.

"What? Did you figure out to get in there to punch that Flute chick?" Natsu asked.

"Nope! Even better. I just found us some reinforcements."

Gray's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Seriously? Who?"

Goku just grinned in response and started running.

"Come on!"

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Laxus smirked as he slid the last piece of his Thunder Palace into place.

Everything was finally ready.

The festival was just a week away, and then it would finally be time for Fairy Tail to embrace what it truly meant to be strong. He would finally take over, cull the weaklings from their ranks and with the remaining mages he would solidify their place as the strongest guild of all time. He would build a legacy that he would be proud to pass down the line once he was old and grey. But before all that…there was the matter of settling a certain score.

Laxus already knew for a fact that Goku would be making the final cut to join the newly improved Fairy Tail. He was far too good of a fighter to simply through away for a petty disagreement. However, in a guild built on power there was no possible way that Laxus could let the record stand as it currently was. Even if it had been with help, and he refused to even consider that the flaming moron could have truly done anything to tip the scales, Laxus had still lost their match.

This time however, things would be very different.

The Thunder Tribe was spread out on the hill behind him, watching his back. Something weird was happening to the sky and a group of these dark creatures had attempted to attack them earlier, only to meet an unfortunate end as Evergreen lowered her glasses in their direction. Her two comrades had them shattered their statues before they had a chance to recover.

"So…you seriously have no idea what they were?" Bickslow asked incredulously. "You're the resident nerd, I was expecting some answers out of you, yeah?"

"Resident nerd! Resident nerd!" chorused the wooden dolls flying around the Seith mage.

"Believe it or not, I do not know the answer to every single problem in the universe." Freed said as he studiously ignoring the dolls with an air of long practice. "If more people helped with the research this likely wouldn't have been an issue. When we return to the guild, perhaps we could visit the library before we start the festivities. I'd like to try and figure out what they were." Laxus merely shrugged.

"We have the time, knock yourself out. Not like it matters one way or another."

"I think we might be a little more pressed than you might think." Evergreen noted. Laxus turned to ask what she meant and was greeted the sight of five battered teens approaching them.

"Huh. The hell are you lot doing all the way out here?" Laxus said, crossing his arms and giving Goku a once over. Laxus' eyes narrowed, the martial artist looked half beat to hell.. Goku merely started rubbing the back of his head sheepishly in that irritatingly meek way of his and began to explain.

…

…

…

"You're shitting me." Laxus said in disbelief. "How the hell did she even get possessed?" He could not believe this nonsense. Some frickin' loser demon had come in and taken over the guild, _his _guild? Just like that? The thought that Goku might be lying to him didn't cross his mind. He knew without a doubt that the monkey boy wouldn't be wasting his time with a joke this stupid. Laxus wasn't sure what pissed him off more: the fact that the guild had been defeated in a single day, or the fact that someone had the nerve to take over the guild right when he was on the verge of doing exactly that.

"We still aren't sure, but she appeared to be utilizing a red celestial key during the encounter. It is possible that it was in some way responsible for what happened." Kagura said.

"…okay first. Who the hell are you? Are you new?"

"She's a potential new recruit." Goku said. "Her brother is in the hospital and she wants to make sure that's he's okay before she decides to join officially or not." Laxus stared at her for a long moment and smirked when Kagura stared right back. Without turning away, the lightning mage addressed the fighter once more.

"Is she strong?"

"B rank at the very least right now, with a heck of a lot of potential." Laxus eyed her for another moment.

"She's got a spine too. Not bad. Consider yourself conscripted kid." Laxus said with a chuckle. His amusement turned into full on laughter when Kagura's eyes narrowed at him.

"Conscripted? You'd force me to be one of your followers?" Her hand edged down towards her blade. The three followers of the lightning mage all smirked at the sudden action. Goku slowly eased himself in between the two his hands up in the air.

"Don't get yourself all worked up kid, you practically did it to yourself. If you didn't want to be tied up with us you should have run the moment shit hit the fan. If half of what you've told me is true then you're stuck with us until this is all over, one way or another." Scowling, Kagura could only nod in acknowledgement to the truth of that statement.

"Good. Now, the key. Are you talking about that weird key that witch gave you as a reward back around when Mira first got here?" Goku nodded. "Well how the hell is this any sort of reward? What, did the bitch hate losing so much that she decided to leave a trap for you guys?"

"I don't know, with how long we had that thing…it doesn't make much sense to be a trap. Especially since she had no way of knowing that we'd ever have a Celestial mage join up. Maybe we just used it wrong?"

"If that's true then that just means that Lucy was too dumb to use the thing properly." Laxus shook his head. "If the blonde survives all of this then she's going to have to go. As nice a piece of eye candy as she is, we can't have any failures in my guild." The temperature seemed to drop several degrees, and it had nothing to do with Gray. Laxus shrugged off Goku's icy gaze with ease.

"So, which part do you have the problem with, the killing or the banishing?"

Goku opened his mouth to shout, then paused. "I don't have the right to complain about the killing. This demon, this Flute? She's not going to stop. If we don't do something she could take out the entire planet out. If it comes down to it, we can't hesitate. But that's going to be my last option." Laxus nodded.

"I can respect that."  
"Now…the banishing?" Goku said sternly. But Laxus had something else to say.

"You can agree that some of the mages in our guild are fairly weak correct? Far weaker than people of our level?" After a moment, Goku begrudgingly nodded. "You can see the problem with that right? When the chips are down, like in that Phantom Lord debacle, how many of our guild mates are actually useful? How many can stand up and fight compared to those who just collapse the moment things get hard?"

"How would you know, jackass? You didn't even fight with us! I bet you were just hiding out like a coward!" Natsu roared. Both Goku and Laxus ignored him. Elfman, Kagura and Gray stood silently across from the Thunder Tribe, tense and ready for battle.

"So, how would you run the guild instead? Banishing the weak and only allowing in the strongest?"

"Of course! You five were the only ones able to resist this brain washing. If the guild had been full of people strong enough to do that, this Flute bitch would have already been taken care of." Laxus grinned, staring Goku dead in the eye. Much as Erza might drone on about justice and camaraderie and all that nonsense, Laxus could see the part of Goku that she ignored. "You can see the appeal can't you?. A place where the strongest come together, train together, and grow stronger together! A place where the best and brightest can truly thrive without having to fear that they might be brought down by a weaker person's failure!"

Goku was silent for a long moment.

"To be completely honest…the idea thrills me. That many strong fighters to face off with all the time honestly sounds like a paradise." Goku confessed. "But as much as I like it, I like Fairy Tail more as it is. There are plenty of strong people to fight, I don't need to banish everyone else. Besides, who's going to determine who's strong? Everyone has different abilities, not everyone is suited for combat. Team Shadowgear is horrible in a fight but people recognize that their one of the best teams in Fiore for traps and riddles.

Now it was Laxus turn to be quiet. Normally he wouldn't waste his time listening to this, but... Goku hadn't just dismissed his ideals out of hand, like they were hotheaded nonsense—like _Gramps._

There was something about the concept that was just… satisfying.

"Fair enough. I can see your point. But in all honesty, I don't really care for that kind of magic. I'm a warrior, and so are you. I want to surround myself with other warriors, the best of the best. If the mages like her want to go and form their own guild, that's fine. But I don't want them in mine."

"But you'd still be the strongest right? If you want to be the guild master of a group of warriors, you have to be the best one of them. How are you even planning on getting rid of everyone, of taking control?"

"Well, truth be told, I was planning something to that end. But with the way things are right now, I don't even think I'm going to need to bother. The strongest mages will be the ones that survive this whole demon mess. Everyone else will be dead."

"…No." Goku said firmly.

"No?" Laxus blinked.  
"No. I'm not dealing with this right now. We can debate all you want after things are settled. But right now, we don't have the time. You said that the strongest is the leader right? Well I'm stronger than you. That makes me in charge. Fall. In. Line."

"…"

"…"

"…Ha. Hahaha. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Laxus doubled over in amusement. The rest of the group watched silently as the two faced off.

"Seriously? You're five years too soon if you think you can take me on one on one."

"Doesn't look like he needs too, jackass." Gray grinned menacingly, frost crackling off his fingers. "In fact, I think he's got the number advantage."

"Don't interfere." Goku said calmly. "This needs to be one on one, and we don't need anybody else injured for when the real fight starts. This is to first blood, got it Laxus? We don't have the time or the energy to waste on anything more right now."

"Whatever you say kid. It's not like it will make a difference once all is said and done." Laxus said cockily. Goku failed to respond, instead he merely sunk into a fighting stance. Then Laxus completely vanished from view in a flash of lightning. Most of survivor's eyes widened in utter disbelief at the sudden display of speed. Goku merely spun around and threw a punch that crashed head on into Laxus' own fist.

"Don't toy with me Laxus, we don't have the time. Either get serious or just give up right now." Goku snarled. Laxus noted the hardened look in the teen's eyes, as well as the agitated motion of his tail.

"Oh ho. Letting the rage seep in kid? I'm getting the feeling that this might not be to first blood after all."

"…Fine." Goku's elbow blurred upwards straight into Laxus' nose and the man found himself stumbling backwards with an arc of blood falling from his face.

"Cheeky bastard…suppose you did tell me not to hold back, didn't you?" Laxus chuckled, licking the trail of blood off his face. "Let me tell you something kid. A long time ago, someone offered me more power than you can possibly believe. I initially refused, I didn't feel like it was worth it if I wasn't the one to earn the power myself. But after that cheap defeat you handed me during the S-class trial…I couldn't resist. So now, you can call me the Lightning Dragon Slayer!" Electricity exploded around Laxus, bouncing all around his body before channeling itself directly into his muscles. His body swelled up, taking on a massive, brutish form that towered over the fighter. Goku's eyes widened briefly in surprise before an electrified fist knocking him backwards end over end down the road and into the forest. He finally came to a stop when his back slammed into an ancient pine hard enough to shatter the bark.

Laxus watched in amusement as Goku forced himself back onto his feet while his blood slowly oozed down his back. Despite the damage he had taken, Goku's expression never changed. He stared down Laxus with blank faced rage and flecks of Ki dancing around his body.

"So…that just means that regardless of the outcome, you couldn't stand the thought of fighting me on even footing with your own power. You needed help. Is that right?" Slowly the smile dropped off of Laxus' face.

"You bastard…you think you can talk to me like that?! Like hell! Show some respect you miserable piece of shit!" Laxus reared back and unleashed a powerful overhead blow. Goku's own hand shot out and as he made contact with Laxus' attack his entire body was consumed in a crimson aura.

"If you want my respect, earn it. Right now you're using a form that powers you up at the cost of your speed. Your speed has always been your biggest advantage, without it you stand no chance against me. Your drive for power has made you weaker than ever." Laxus roared and charged, swinging out with everything he had. Goku dodged and weaved through each and every one of the attacks, never feeling more than the slightest breeze as they passed by.

"It's over Laxus. It was over before it even began. You can't match my new power."

"What the hell is this? How is this possible?!"

"What is it? I'm not entirely sure yet, I'm still working out all the kinks. But…I believe it's called the Kaio Ken."

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The assembled free mages were glaring at one another, neither one willing to start the battle but both sides wanting nothing more than to unleash their frustrations on the other side. The survivors of the initial attack couldn't help but feel helpless. After everything that had happened they were now stuck waiting on the outcome of a completely pointless battle, just hoping that things would somehow turn out okay. Then Laxus was flung into the clearing. He landed in a bloody heap before the Thunder Tribe as Goku stalked back up the road to take his place beside his friends.

"This is over. If you guys want to fight, wait until after we've saved everybody. For now, I'm in charge. Any questions?" Goku said, glaring at the group. However, the answer came from behind him.

"Just one." The entire group spun around to see a little old woman floating atop a crystal ball. "Just how the hell did you brats manage to bring about the demon apocalypse with a skeleton key?"

Baba the witch had returned.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: FAIRY TAIL'S FORCES FINALLY ASSEMBLE TO COMBAT THE DEMON THREAT. FLUTE'S ORIGINS ARE FINALLY REVEALED. GOKU TAKES COMMAND FOR A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE WORLD. ALL THIS AND MORE WILL BE FOUND…

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION: THE RED KEY PART 4…TNT

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**Hey everbody!**

**Sturm and Drang here, do you know what that means?**

**Omake time. Let's lighten up some of this drama with some comedy.**

**Just one thing: this particular omake is NOT canon to the story…unless you want it to be.**

**Omake #(whatever number it is): Strike of Truth**

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**Some indeterminate time in the future or past.**

Juvia crept through the streets of Mangolia, her heart a flutter with excitement and more than a little uncertainty. For you see, she had recently come into possession of a certain thing. A certain thing that could be the key to changing her life forever. A certain thing that had set her heart at war with her conscious.

A certain thing that was actually a bottle.

Of course, it was not the bottle that excited her so. If it were, then Juvia would be a very weird person indeed.

And Juvia was _anything_ but a weird person.

No, indeed not. What excited Juvia so was the contents of the bottle.

It was a potion. More specifically, it was a love potion.

Oh, she heard such things claimed before. Love potions were a dime-a-dozen in the trashy sort of magazines that Juvia absolutely _did not_ read, but all of those were scams and she certainly didn't know that because she'd tried them.

But this one _wasn't._

Juvia had been completing a job for a traveling witch. Not one of the cheap floozies she'd met once or twice at carnivals, but a true sorceress. Her name was Amora and Juvia had witnessed first-hand just how potent her magical lovemaking ability was. Juvia had watched Amora snap her fingers and in mere seconds men had, quite literally, started worshipping the ground she walked on. You couldn't argue with those results.

Juvia couldn't quite remember exactly what mission Amora had given her. All she could remember was sharing a pleasant dinner with the sorceress, followed by a vague recollection of satin pillows, scented bath salts, and an awful lot of bouncing.

Whatever Juvia had done, Amora must have been quite satisfied, for the sorceress had given her a bag full of jewels, the love potion, and a free invitation to visit her again if Juvia was ever in the mood.

Which presented Juvia with a very serious dilemma of what should she do with it? Of course the immediate and obvious answer was to corner Gray when he was alone and lovingly force it down his throat. But… something deep inside Juvia protested to this act for some reason.

Throughout the entire homeward journey, Juvia had been struggling to stamp out that little rebellious voice. But it was difficult; whatever part of her that protested was bombarding her mind with vague and rhetorical questions.

What was love? Was it real? If it was, did it truly count if you drugged someone into it?

All deep and profound questions; more importantly, they were questions that were standing in the way of Juvia getting her man and therefore not ones she had any patience for.

And now she was nearing the guild—a proud and welcoming building that stood alone in the middle of its spacious buffer zone that the townspeople refused to live in for safety reasons. Juvia still couldn't quite believe she was a member of Fairy Tail. She couldn't believe that a group of such welcoming and wonderful people existed in real life. She slipped through the doors and found herself practically enveloped in a cloud of good cheer and comradely.

Her eyes swept around the building. It was about half-full, but she couldn't see the flash of the chiseled body and divine abs that had stolen her heart.

Drat. Gray wasn't here.

Oh well, there was no need to go stalking through the streets looking for him like some kind of deranged psycho; not when she could lie in wait for him here like a completely sane person.

Her belly growled and she gravitated towards the bar. She nodded respectfully to Mirajane, the woman to whom she owed every bit of the joy that was her life, and slid into a seat next to Levy.

"Welcome back Juvia. Your mission go alright?" Levy asked distractedly, her brilliant orange quill flashing from side to side as she wrote page after page in a large tome.

"As well as Juvia could have hoped."

"I'm glad." Levy shot her a grin before burying herself back in her writing. Juvia liked Levy. Her fellow bluenette had been very welcoming despite Juvia's involvement in Phantom Lord and what her former guild had done to the word mage. They would often cross paths in the guild library and Levy would happily show Juvia where to find the most deliciously _scandalous _books, as well as debate them, if Juvia was in the mood.

Also, Juvia was at least seventy-three percent sure that Levy had no romantic interest in Gray. Which meant there was, at most, only a twenty-seven percent chance that Juvia might have to drown her in the future—not lethally, of course, merely to warn her off. Levy was a friend, after all.

Juvia turned her attention back to the room at large, scanning it for her soon-to-be lover. Gray still wasn't here. But that was fine, she was pretty sure he was still in the town so he'd stop by soon enough. That would give her time to plan what she was going to do.

…Wait. What _was _she going to do?

Juvia stared down at the bottle of love potion with a sudden renewed uncertainty. Only now did it occur to her that she hadn't actually asked Amora how she was supposed to use it. Did she go with her original plan of forcing it down his throat? Many books she'd read suggested love potions needed to be ingested. But how did she make sure he fell in love with her specifically? Was she supposed to drink some as well? The books never really talked about that. Then again, this wasn't a novel; this was real life. Perhaps she was supposed to sprinkle it over herself like perfume and then ravish him? Or maybe sprinkle it over him and make him ravish her? She was fairly certain ravishing needed to play a role somewhere; she just wasn't sure if it was the cause or the effect.

Perhaps the love potion wasn't such a good idea after all.

She was considering tucking the potion away when she heard the guild doors open and her Gray-sense went haywire. Juvia's head snapped around and for a moment found herself struck dumb once more by the sight of the world's most perfect man. She could practically hear the wedding bells ringing and the swish of doves flying all around.

And then the moment was ruined.

With a yell and a burst of flame, Natsu had launched himself from his seat straight at the ice mage. They both hit the ground hard and immediately started wrestling; turning into a scene where fire, frost, and clothes flying in every direction.

Juvia seethed like a building storm as steam began to pour off her forehead.

_Natsu Dragneel._ The salamander. The fire dragon slayer.

_Her Love Rival._

Oh, he went around screaming about how much he hated her dear, sweet Gray, but Juvia knew the _Truth!_ In matters of the heart, you couldn't just look at what someone said; you had to look at how they acted as well. Natsu was always trying to put his hands all over Grey, wrestling him to the floor and rolling all around in a tangle of limbs and noise. As Juvia watched her Gray's clothes fly off, she had to admit that she admired Natsu's tactics and wished she had the strength to emulate them.

But there was no time to delay! She needed to act quickly, lest the salamander steal her prize.

She raised the bottle before her eyes and sloshed it back in forth. She could feel the potion with her magic; meaning there was water in it. Which also meant she could manipulate it with her magic. She still didn't know exactly which method to use, but if she wanted Grey, she would have to improvise.

She'd just have to use them all.

She glanced around, Levy's nose was still buried in her book and Mira was off chatting with Elfman. Nobody was watching her. There was a small pop when Juvia uncorked the bottle and a puff of purple smoke wafted out of it. Juvia reached out with her magic and lifted the liquid out, leaving about a fourth behind—just in case she needed to drink some of it herself.

She hurriedly tucked the bottle away and formed the floating liquid into a ball. Which she divided into two smaller balls: one to sprinkle Grey with, the other to make him drink. Slowly, taking care to look as natural as possible, she slid off her stool and meandered through the crowd of fairies.

She needed to be careful and pick her moment. After all, she wanted to hit Grey, _not _Natsu. She had no interest in that vile, love-stealing flamethrower. Like a lioness, she held herself still, love bullets at the ready.

Wait for it… wait for it… NOW!

She had chosen her moment well, Grey had just gotten the upper hand and thrown Natsu to the ground. The lovely ice mage had climbed to his feet, his bare chest glistening with sweat and his mouth was open. He was practically asking her to give him all of her love right then and there.

Juvia shot the potion like a rocket, straight and true as cupid's arrow. Her heart swelled as the purple promise of love flew.

Only to plummet as someone got in the way.

"What do you think you are doing?" Erza demanded, rising out of the crowd like an iceberg and positioning herself between Juvia and the wrestling fairies.

The potion splashed her in the back of the head, one after the other.

Oh… _dear. _

Erza stood very still, the purple liquid dripping from her hair and down her neck. The atmosphere within the guild became charged, like the god of thunder had raised his hammer and all the fairies had bated their breath just waiting for it to fall. Even Natsu and Grey had fallen silent, their eyes like saucers as they stared up at Erza.

Very, very slowly, Erza turned. Her eyes locked on Juvia's and the space between them had become no man's land.

Erza took a step towards Juvia, the sound of her boots hitting the floor slamming into Juvia like a promise of doom. Juvia found her feet backpedalling of their own volition, carrying her away from her destruction as fast as they could… and then her back hit the wall.

Some idle part of her mind noted that this must be what a deer felt like when the wolves began to circle. Juvia's fingers scrambled against the wall as the redhead drew ever nearer, but to no avail. She thought about turning to water, throwing herself into the bar's sink, and disappearing down the drain. If she were lucky, she could let gravity carry her out into the ocean were maybe, just maybe, Erza might not be able to find her… Not that she could act on those desires, not with Erza's gaze pinning her to the wall.

And then Erza stood before her, her face impassive and her hands behind her back.

"You." the word split the air like a tolling bell.

"Y-yes." Juvia whimpered.

Erza's head lowered, her bangs blocking her eyes as though she herself didn't want to witness what she was about to do to Juvia.

"Have mercy!" Juvia shrieked, throwing her hands over her eyes.

Juvia trembled, her eyes covered. After a few moments and a lack of armored fists pummeling her body, she peeked through her fingers and saw that Erza's head was lowered further, her body bending at the waist as she bowed low. After another moment of fearful stupefaction, Juvia's brain reported that Erza had actually said something.

"E-excuse Juvia?"

"Please forgive me!" Erza repeated, bowing even lower.

"What?"

"I beg your forgiveness! You are a new member of the guild and I did not take the time to welcome you. In that, I did you wrong. I therefore beg your forgiveness!"

"J-Juvia does not understand…" Juvia's eyes twitched left and right, but any form of escape seemed impossibly far away.

Erza's head snapped up; her wild eyes making Juvia flinch back once more. Erza shot forward and clamped her hands onto Juvia's shoulders.

"I demand that you forgive me for the wrong I have done you!"

"Juvia forgives you!" Juvia squealed, desperate to make it stop.

"That's not good enough!"

"What?" Juvia's could feel her mind start to fizzle with fear and confusion.

Erza let go of Juvia and took a step back.

"Strike me."

"What?"

"I can only imagine the emotional pain my refusal to acknowledge your presence must have inflicted. In order to make this right, I insist that you strike me."

"J-Juvia doesn't think-"

"Strike me!" The words cracked like a whip and Juvia's hand shot up almost against her will. She lashed out with a torrent of water and fear, blasting Erza across the room and into the far wall.

"Very good." To Juvia's horror, Erza got up; her armor dripping with water and a look of sweet satisfaction on her face "I can feel the sweet warmth of forgiveness and camaraderie flowing through me." The expression of contentment disappeared and her head snapped around.

"Goku!" Erza declared, her eyes looking on the martial artist as he took a bite out of an enormous sandwich.

"Mrghf- eh?" Goku grunted around the food in his mouth.

Erza marched over to him and bowed. "I demand your forgiveness!"

Goku swallowed, "Uh… for what?"

"When we went out to lunch the other day, I took some of your food when you weren't looking. It is only right that you should strike me to make amends for this transgression."

"Uh… okay, wow. I know I like food, but I'm not going to hit a friend just because they took some of my fries." Goku shrugged "I, uh, forgive you."

"Not good enough! Strike me!"

Juvia felt her legs give out and she slid limp to the ground, her mind gone blank from fear and relief. There was the sound of footsteps and Juvia felt someone put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Juvia?"

Juvia looked upward, Mirajane was crouching next to her, a worried look stamped across her face. "Y-yes?"

"What exactly did you hit Erza with?"

"I… it was-"

There was a thud and a crash. Juvia glanced upwards. Erza's head was buried in the side of the wall. The titania was still for a moment. Then, like a zombie rising from the grave, she placed her hands against the wall and pulled her head out with a pop.

"Most excellent!" She declared. "Natsu! Come here. I have much forgiveness to demand from you."

"Alright! Bring it on, Erza! Nobody is gonna forgive you harder than me!"

"Uh oh." Mira muttered. She stood, pulling Juvia to her feet. "Come with me." The acting guild master ordered. She led Juvia across through the room of flabbergasted fairies and pulled her behind the bar. Mirajane crouched down and pushed a red button on the underside of the bar. A shimmering barrier of magic popped into existence, encompassing the bar.

"What-" Juvia began.

"It's a special barrier Levy designed for me to keep our daily brawls from destroying the bar… and to keep Cana out of the booze. It should keep us safe from Erza if she decides she needs more forgiveness from you."

"You're welcome." Levy piped up; having not moved from her seat, she was within the barrier as well. "So, any idea what's up with Erza now?"

"Yes, what _is _up with Erza?" Mirajane shot Juvia a pointed look.

"Juvia didn't mean to!" Juvia wailed. "It was an accident."

"Oh, it's okay," Mira hushed her. "We're all mages. We accidently hex each other all the time. I just want to know what you did."

"It- it was this." Juvia sniffled, pulling out the bottle. Mira snatched it from her hand and examined it with a critical eye.

"Is this from Amora?" Mirajane asked.

"The love mage?" asked Levy.

"You know her?" Juvia asked, asked looking at Mira.

Mira blinked, her face turning a little bit pink. "I, uh, yes. I've crossed paths with her once or twice back in my wilder days and— look, the details aren't important, is this from her?" Mira shook the bottle lightly.

"She said it was a love potion."

"Ah." Mirajane nodded. "That explains Erza's behavior. This is supposed to be inserted, bottle and all, like a suppository, not applied to the skin."

"Elfman, as a man, I demand you forgive me!" Erza's voice echoed across the room.

"Very well! As I man, I shall." There was meaty thunk.

"What was that?" Erza demanded, scorn dripping from her voice. "Forgive me _harder!"_

"Or maybe Erza just gets off on people's forgiveness." Levy commented, tapping her quill against her lip. "Or maybe it's just getting hit. It certainly happens to her a lot…"

"Did you really have to say that, Levy? Now I can't stop thinking about it."

"But it kind of explains a lot, doesn't it?"

"It… does. Yes." Mira admitted. "I suppose that to her, the most intimate thing might well be forgiveness for a wrong. Maybe Amora's potion just… amplified that feeling to stupid levels."

"Do you know how long it's supposed to last?" Juvia asked, listening to the sound of Erza's demands and the quiet footsteps of fairies trying to escape. There was a loud thunk, like a sword being buried in wood.

"Nobody is leaving until I have been forgiven by each and every one of you!"

"Oh it should wear off in awhile." Mira waved off her concerns. "Amora's spells usually last just long enough for a single night and possibly the morning after. You didn't use all of it and Erza didn't actually drink it. It shouldn't last more than a few hours." She poured herself a drink from under the counter. "Want some?" She held the bottle out to Juvia.

Juvia hesitated, then shrugged and took the bottle. She kind of wanted to forget about this whole thing anyway.

**Several hours later**

"I have done it," Erza declared. Strewn across the floor around her were dozens of Fairies, most of them cradling their hands and whimpering. Those that weren't down and out were huddled against the walls, eyeing her in fear. "I have sampled forgiveness from each and everyone of you—multiple times," the fairies at her feet whimpered. Erza looked quite the worse for wear: her armor was battered; her hair was in disarray, and her face… was oddly unmarked.

"While I appreciate your efforts, I have found that only one of you can give me a forgiveness that truly satisfies me."

The fairies stared up at her, each one fearing that they might be chosen. Erza reached down, and everyone flinched. Then Erza pulled back and held up her choice.

"Are you _kidding _me?" Natsu snarled, both of his hands bruised and swollen. "Happy!?"

"Aye!" The blue cat basked in their disbelief, snuggling against Erza's chest.

"Indeed. Happy's paws deliver a forgiveness that belies his tiny form. Out of all of you, Happy's forgiveness truly fulfills my desires like nobody else." Erza declared.

"Aye!"

"Happy hits harder than me." Said Natsu, his body slumping to the ground as a cloud of gloom built up over his head. "I can't believe it. Happy hits harder than me."

Erza turned on her heel and marched to the guildhall doors, pulling her sword out of the crack where she wedged it, she opened them and turned back once more.

"And now we shall retire to my bedroom where we shall engage in a truly blissful bout of reconciliation."

"Aye!" Happy's eyes bugged out. "Wait, WHAT?"

"Come, sweet Happy, let us go and join each other in true exoneration."

"No wait!" Happy wailed. "Natsu! I like being a bachelor, save me!"

"Happy hits harder than me. Happy hits harder than me. Happy hits harder than—"

"No—" the doors slammed shut, cutting off Happy's cries. Mira looked around the room; taken in the dented walls, destroyed tables, and injured fairies.

"Eh, Could have been worse."

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**Is… is it possible? Have I truly created the one true OTP? **

**I think I have… I'm not apologizing. **

**I am, however, willing to offer an explanation:**

**This particular little story was born in a discussion between me and Heroman. You see, Heroman made a throwaway comment while making a point that I proceeded to take WAY too seriously. **

**I'm actually kind of disappointed in myself for this one, not in terms of writing quality or the like, but in a sort of what-would-my-mother-say-if-she-knew-what-I-was-writing? Sort of way.**

**Alas, sweet wholesome integrity, I knew you well. Goodbye.**

****Oh yeah sure, integrity. That describes you real well.

For those of you who are curious, I'm just going to drop the conversation that we had right here for your viewing pleasure. Make of it what you will.

**Heroman: **I was going to have flute get the town possessed as well, just to give her an overabundance of cannon fodder troops.

**S&amp;D** Sure, why not? Just up the ante on every level.

**Heroman:** I can't wait for Erza to be free so I can write a scene where she has to confront the fact that she scarred one of her friends. That ought to be good.

**S&amp;D: **She might actually be fine with it. She knows she wasn't herself at the time.

**Heroman:** But she has a bit of a guilt complex doesn't she? I mean, 'I apologize, please strike me!' Either that or she just gets off on pain.

**S&amp;D: **Maybe she IS a masochist! When she says please hit me, she's actually coming on to someone.

**Heroman: **Bwahaha! That would explain so much! We might actually have to make that part of our cannon at some point!

**S&amp;D: **Careful. Remember, the shippers are circling the boat. You have to be careful who does that…or shove it in a non-cannon omake.

**Heroman: **Still not sure what to do about the shipping stuff. Omake it is.

**S&amp;D: **…oh god damn it. Now I can see it: Juvia tries to hit gray with a love potion, hits Erza. Erza is looking at everyone then goes around the guild asking everyone to hit her. Realizations and comedy ensue.

**Heroman: **I love how quickly you came up with that.

**S&amp;D: **I hate how I might have to write it now. Why don't these ideas hit me like this when I'm writing my own stuff?

…so yeah. That happened. Anyways, I'll see you guys eventually. Please leave a review!


	37. RK 4: TNT

AN: I would just like to say here, if I wasn't trying to keep the ACDC theme going with these chapter names, I totally would have called this chapter THIS IS HALLOWEEN.

**THE RED KEY PART 4…TNT**

Baba had felt Flute cross over into the mortal world but she had shrugged it off. That tiny blip hadn't been large enough for any of the more serious threats to get through. At least, that was what she had thought right up until the moment when one of the largest breaches in the history of the Dead Zone had been torn straight into one of the worlds she liked to visit.

When she had found out the _cause _of the rip…if she could still age it might have scared a decade off of her life. She had gone down to chew the red-haired idiot's ear off for making such a stupid mistake, and instead found that she had already gotten herself possessed. Luckily, Gohan's kid had apparently spared himself from that fate. So now she could ask…

"Just how the hell did you brats manage to bring about the demon apocalypse with a skeleton key?"

"Skeleton Key? But you said that you didn't know what it was!"

"Of course I did! I was trying to be mysterious! I'm an old witch; it's practically in the job description! I was expecting you to just shove it into every last lock you came across! Then you were supposed to get all excited figuring out that it opened every lock you put it in, and things were supposed to be all cute! What did you think it was?"

"Erza thought it was some sort of Celestial Key." Goku said in confusion. Baba's face shifted into something stuck halfway between reprehensible contempt and utter bewilderment.

"A Celestial Key? Wha…how would you even think that? Didn't you ever test it? Any experience Celestial Mage should be able to tell her that she was wrong in half a minute!"

"I think Erza said she didn't want to use any sort of magical item without knowing what it is, so she gave it to our guild's Celestial Mage. I guess she was too inexperienced then?"

"You were not supposed to mix skeleton key magic with Celestial gate powers!" She screeched, nearly pulling her hair out in frustration. "You ripped open a gateways to another dimension! If we don't close that portal…" Baba shuddered and bit down on her lip, trying to keep her emotions under control.

"Three years ago, a Demon King escaped from his prison and attacked my home world. He hunted down and killed everyone that was strong enough to fight back, and he took over everything. My brother tried to fight." The old witch turned away to hide the tears pooling around the sides of her eyes. "He left me his house and his turtle. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. Things finally got so bad that the guardian of the planet had to get involved. He sacrificed himself to seal away the demon and every last one of his followers, hundreds of them."

Baba floated around right up in front of Goku's face, her face wrought with worry.

"Tell me, right now. This demon that took over this city, the one that started everything. What was its name?"

"Flute." Baba's eyes slowly closed.

"If that's true…damn it all. She's going to try and free her grandfather."

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"Has everyone completed their failsafe?" Flute asked her charges.

"Yes mum!" Erza's body said cheerfully, echoed by the rest of Fairy Tail.

"Good, good. Now that that's done, you can all go play a game! A few nasty mages escaped here earlier and are hiding out somewhere outside the city! Whoever can find them and bring them back first, wins!" The demoness smiled indulgently as her children all began to cheer.

"Now, I have to stay here to set up the beacon for grandpa, so you all go out and have fun okay?" They dashed out the door in a giant mob and began rushing through the city, no doubt picking through their host's minds to try and find any hint of where the missing mages might be hiding out. Flute shook her head in amusement at the suddenly empty building. If they didn't make such useful assistants, she likely would have just abandoned them like any other sensible demon. Even her grandfather just sent away any of his kids that annoyed him. Only those who could make themselves useful were worth his time. Flute smirked, her eyes glittering like drops of venom as she contemplated the future.

She would prove herself to be the best of them all. She would free him from his prison, release him back into the mortal world, and secure her place at his side for centuries to come.

With those centuries would come rebellions, and with those rebellions…test subjects.

Flute began to hum to herself as she slowly created her next seal.

She could hardly wait.

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"If you've dealt with this kind of demon before, then you must have some way to beat them." Laxus had returned to his feet and stood side by side with Goku. Baba shook her head.

"It depends. If a demon thinks it's going to die it might flee the host body. They make the people they possess stronger and more durable, but they still feel everything you do to the body. Certain types of light magic or special techniques work too. My brother knew a move that could suck a demon right out of its host, seal them away in a little bottle…he tried to use it on the demon king. It would have worked too, if he had hadn't gotten blindsided by one of the bastard's kids from behind. I saw the entire thing three days afterwards on my crystal ball. Old bastard had a big old blade in his gut and what does he do? He turns around and pops the thing over his head with his cane and then Kamehameha's the whole lot of them." The old witch chuckled ruefully. "He always was too stubborn to know when to go down."

"Wait…he knew the Kamehameha too?" Goku asked. Baba's eyes narrowed at the teen.

"He was the one who invented it…but you know it too don't you? How did you come to learn that move boy? Gohan said he never taught you that move!"

"I…saw it in a dream. I've been having them for years, I see a bunch of strangers using all sorts of awesome techniques and then I just figure them out after I've watched them a few times."

"Hmm." Baba floated down to the ground and climbed off of her crystal ball. She sent it hovering around Goku, observing him from every possible angle. Goku stood perfectly still, watching it's movements with a combination of curiosity and trepidation. Finally it halted its rotations and returned so that the old woman could peer inside.

"Ah. That explains it. You are not from this world. You are from mine."

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Gajeel grabbed a woman by the throat and smashed her headfirst into a shopkeeper that was charging at him with a broom. He then spun her around so her legs caught a trio of kids across the face before he finally threw her through a window. The best part? She was a Rune Knight.

"Best. Day. EVER!" The dragon slayer cheered. He'd left well over four dozen battered and broken civilians in his wake. They were stronger than normal, they were faster than normal, and they could take a hit far better, but not a single one of them had what it would take to punch through his armor. Yet they kept trying anyways.

Gajeel casually caught a Molotov cocktail that had been thrown at his head, pulled out the flaming rag and downed the alcohol all in one go. He gave a loud belch as he slammed the bottle over its original owners head and continued running down the street. As fun as things were, it was only a matter of time before his old pals caught up with him, and if the civilians had been amped up he wasn't very interested in seeing what happened to other mages.

The dragon slayer was charging straight through the street towards the city's main road up through the mountains. Once he got into the open there was no way that a single one of these freaks would be able to match his speed. He'd miles away by the time they cleared the first hill.

Then a weed jumped up and tripped him.

Literally.

The plant ripped itself, roots and all, straight out of the sidewalk and tied itself up around Gajeel's ankles, sending him crashing to the ground. In a move he rolled back up to his feet and cut himself loose before settling into a fighting stance. Then he saw his opponents. The pair glared down the street at him and the dragon slayer stared back. A soft snort escaped his jaw.

Then a chortle.

Then he bent over in full blown laughter.

"Aw man! How desperate do you nuts have to be to stop me if this is the best they could send out?" He sniggered.

Jet and Droy's identical smiles slowly became strained. Jet rocketed forwards, kicked Gajeel in the crotch, slammed his head into the ground and then pinned it there. Then, holding the iron-sheathed face against the ground, he began to run.

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If there was one thing that Baba loved, it was revealing ground shattering truths that turned people's world on its head.

So when Goku merely tilted his head and asked "So?" She couldn't help but feel a little bit cheated.

Baba let out a weary sigh. These kids, she swore to Kami…

"From what I can tell, you were supposed to spend your life in my own home dimension, not here. Those flashes you get, those dreams? They are glimpses of the life you were supposed to have lead over there. You are still tied to that place, even if you are stuck here."

"Huh." Goku said. "Neat." Baba's vein twitched.

"That's all you have to say?" She growled out.

"Well, I don't really see how that's very useful right now. It won't help us fix the demon problem, right?" Goku replied. Baba clearly wanted to say more but she could only nod in response.

"Fine then. But after everything is said and done here, we have much to discuss." Baba said. Slowly her crystal ball began to rise up through the air. "For now, it seems critical that we expand our numbers. I'm sure you and your shirtless friend remember my crew of monsters? They liked my brother. He let them borrow his magazines. I'm sure they would be more to help out with a bit of payback now." The woman vanished in a flash of white light.

"So we're just stuck waiting again?" Natsu groaned. "Come on already, I just want to get down there and hit something! I can't be the only one going crazy right?" Elfman nodded enthusiastically and Gray had opened his mouth to respond when Laxus and Goku's heads both suddenly snapped towards the road. Goku launched a spherical Ki blast down the hill and Laxus' lightning enveloped it like a cloak as it soared downwards. A moment later Jet ran around the bend, hunched over as he continued to drag Gajeel's face across the mountain. The speedster took the attack straight in the chest and went flying backwards back down the path. Gajeel bounced along the ground with his leftover momentum and came to a stop at the lightning mage's feet.

The teen hopped back up to his feet and spat out a mouthful of dirt directly onto Laxus's shoes. Laxus stared at the teen for a long moment.

"The only reason I haven't punched you right now is because I don't think you're possessed." He said drily. Gajeel smirked.

"So some of you Fairy folks managed to get out of there after all huh? That's cool, I thought I might have to take out the entire city by myself."

"If you were having trouble with Jet I kind of doubt that." Laxus snorted. Gajeel's smile slipped down into a frown.

"Please. The guy couldn't even hurt me, it was more annoying than anything." Gajeel snarled, inches away from Laxus' face. The leader of the Thunder Tribe merely smiled back.

"Prove it." Laxus said, gesturing toward Jet as he climbed back up to his feet.

"If you want me to kick the shit out of your friends, I'm not going to say no." Gajeel said. Goku coughed suddenly and pointed a bit further down the road. A huge plant creature was waddling up the path, carrying Droy on its head.

"Huh. Well that's new." Laxus noted. "He asked Goku. The fighter's eyes widened slightly in disbelief.

"Wait, what?"

"My philosophy, remember? The strongest should lead. So until I get the chance to bash your face in once this is all said and done, you're in charge. So, what do we do?" Goku blinked and looked back down the hill. Jet and Droy were now side by side and walking slowly forwards as vines began to crawl up along the sides of the path towards the Fairy survivors. He didn't hesitate, only nodded once and quickly surveyed his surroundings.

Speedster.

Plant matter.

Downward slope.

Narrow pathway.

Obvious answer.

"Gray. Floor." Goku ordered.

The ice mage smirked.

"Can do!" He slammed his hands onto the ground and a wave of white light blazed down the hill, coating everything it touched under an inch of ice. Traction suddenly turned to zero and Jet started to slip. Before he could steady himself the ice began to climb up his legs, crawling up higher and higher until only his head was free. Droy's plant monster faired far better. The vines and foliage suddenly began to break away and collapse to the ground, making way for new growth. Evergreen trees and bushes sprouted up into a new creature. As the ice tried to climb up it's leg the roots shot deep into the ground and began to dig everything up, shattering the frozen film along the path and knocking Jet to the ground. The speedster began to vibrate at super speed and the ice slowly started to weaken.

"Gray, focus on Jet. Natsu, you're up." The dragon slayer's entire body started to smolder.

"Finally!" Like a damn breaking; fire erupted from his body, filling the air with steam as the ice vaporized. Soon, all Droy could see of his opponent was a pair of glowing red eyes. And then they moved.

The creature's right leg was obliterated in an explosion of fire and Droy was forced to abandon his mount, diving out of its body as it fell to the cracking hellfire below. As he scrambled back up to his feet he found himself face to face with a smirking dragon. Then there was nothing but fire.

Moments later, Natsu carried a battered plant mage back onto the road and dropped him off next to Jet so that Gray could freeze them together. With a wave of his hand both of the unconscious teens were locked together in tiny little igloo. Natsu snorted and held out his fist. With a smirk, Gray bumped it. Then in unison, the two turned back to the rest of the group and took a bow.

Gajeel started snickering to himself when Laxus groaned. Goku looked down at the two restrained teens and suddenly had a thought.

"How come Levy wasn't here with these guys?

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Levy came to a stop in the middle of the city and stomped her foot down in frustration.

"Where the hell did those two dumbasses go?!"

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"Who cares?" Laxus shrugged. "It's not like she could take any of us out by herself. Besides, Freed'll eat her word magic for breakfast." he jabbed a thumb at his disciple. "We can worry about her when we take out everybody else. Right now, we need to make sure that that bitch can't turn any more of us. Freed, anything we can do about that?" The green haired man gave an easy smile and began to dig around inside of his satchel.

"Natsu was protected by his dragon slayer magic, so that likely means that means that you will be protected as well Laxus. As for the three of us," he gestured to Bickslow and Evergreen. "I do believe I have formed a solution." I actually whipped something up while you were talking with the witch. He took three small silver circlets.

"We were gifted these from that minor Lord to the far south a few months prior. I believe they were under the impression that we would be using them as gifts for any companions we may have. But I discovered that they made fair mediums to conduct my magic. I took a few minutes to add some wards to them, if their descriptions of her control abilities are accurate, this should be more than enough to protect us." He slipped the first piece onto his own head and smirked in self-satisfaction when it released a faint purple glow. Bickslow jumped forwards and jammed his own straight onto his head over his helmet, his tongue wagging the whole way. Evergreen stared at the proffered piece of jewelry before snapping her fan shut and letting out a derisive sniff. "And what makes you think that I would willingly allow you to besmirch my face like that?"

"Nothing." Freed replied simply. "I just thought that your preserved individuality might be more important to you than your fashion sense, but I can just hang onto it if you want." Freed said. Evergreen snarled as she jammed the piece of metal down on her head before whipping out a compact to examine her appearance.

"I just thing that she's jealous that we're rocking them better than she could!" Bickslow cackled, pulling out a compact of his own and peaking under his mask. "I like it!"

"Like it! Like it!" his babies chanted, bouncing up and down around Evergreen. The mage snarled, swatting at the dolls and stomping over to the other side of the group. Elfman saw the look on her face and decided to try and repair her ego.

"As a man, I can say that you wear that very well." He declared, laying a hand on her shoulder. Evergreen's eyes turned upon him with a look so baleful, Elfman unconsciously let go, broke into a cold sweat, and moved until Goku was between him and the woman.

There was a small pop, and Baba reappeared.

"I see you guys have had a bit of excitement. Glad I missed it. Anyways, you remember this lot right? Fang, See-Through, and Bandages." Fang wiped the drool from his jaw and waved while Bandages nodded in their direction. There was a pause for a moment before Bandages nudged the air next to him.

"You know they can't see you right? Speak up already!"

See-Through grunted something that vaguely sounded like the word hi. Goku frowned.

"Where's Spike?"

"Big Blue tried to use his Devilmite Beam on the big green bastard. But the freak just grew his heart right back and snapped Spike's neck. Never stood a chance." Bandages said sullenly.

"Sorry for your loss." Goku said.

"Yeah well, at least now we got a shot at a bit of payback. Those freaks will never know what hit them. I'll rip their limbs from their torsos and feed them their own fingers and toes."

"No killing." Baba said blandly. "We don't kill the possessed people. If you can get any of the demons out of their bodies then that's fair game, otherwise we go to incapacitate." Bandages frowned but nodded grudgingly. Suddenly Baba's crystal ball began to glow. On the hill there was a burst of light and another figure stepped out.

"Ah good, the next one's here. Ladies and gentlemen, meet our resident Frankenstein." The light faded, revealing a large, bulky man with a black jacket and blue undershirt. A massive line of stiches stretched out over half of his massive forehead. He looked over the group sullenly before a tiny smile graced his lips.

"Hello. I am designated as Android 8." Goku stepped forward and held out his hand. The giant looked down at it in confusion for a moment before slowly holding out his own right next to Goku's. The teen grabbed the android's hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Android 8 huh? That's a bit of a mouthful isn't it? I think I'm going to call you Eighter instead." The smile on the Android's face grew significantly wider.

"Hello. I am Eighter." He waved at the group once more. Elfman stalked up to the android and held up his arm. Eighter mimicked the action and Elfman frowned slightly as he noticed that his own biceps were slightly smaller.

"Hmm. It appears I need to increase my regiment in order to compete with your manliness. Tell me, what work have you done to get your muscles this size?" Eighter's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Work? I thought I just came this way?" He said, looking down at his hands. Baba chuckled a bit.

"Nice guy isn't he? A bit slow, but more than strong enough to make up for it. If he's here now, that means the rest should be here any second."

Laxus raised his brow "The rest? How many more fighters do you have?" As he spoke, Baba's crystal began to pulse, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second. The light cast a dark shadow across the woman's face as her lips curled upwards. Laxus took one look at the sight and shuddered. He knew that look. It was the black look of dark hatred on a darkened night.

"Oh…enough."

Then the hillside erupted with in explosions of light.

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Erza had been circling the city in her Blackwing armor, searching for any sign as to where the few stragglers might have fled too. Since they had escaped by air, she vaguely hoped that her chances might increase by doing the same. Instead it seemed that she was just wasting her energy as she completed her eighth circuit around Magnolia. She was just about to land when a bright light suddenly filled half her field of vision. The girl spun around, her weapons raised, only for her jaw to drop in disbelief at the sight that greeted her. An instant later she bolted back towards the ground screaming at the top of her lungs.

"ARM YOURSELVES! PREPARE FOR BATTLE! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"

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The entire hillside was lined with monsters. Dozens upon dozens of creatures were lined up behind Baba, glaring down at the city with visible venom. Each and every one of them was loyal to Baba, so each one felt the pain of her loss. Now, they had the chance to avenge it.

A pack of werewolves howled into the air.

A lanky succubus draped itself over Fang's arms as it adjusted its kickboxer stance.

A small wyvern flapped it's wings in agitation as it prepared for battle.

A giant spider stood motionless, the ground around it clear as the other monsters gave it a wide birth.

A massive snake coiled up, its tail rattling as it's fangs dripped with venom.

A group of Anubites snarled as the scent of demons assaulted their noses.

A massive three headed dog that towered over almost all of the rest leapt over the group and barked happily as it sniffed Elfman and grabbed the teen up in it's jaw before depositing him on it's back.

"Oh look at that, Lucky likes you!" Baba cackled. Elfman blanched slightly but didn't dismount.

All and all, over two hundred beasts had covered the road behind the Fairy Tail survivors.

"It appears that the numbers are no longer quite so badly against us." Kagura noted.

"Looks that way kid." Laxus said before he turned to Goku. "Alright fearless leader, do you have a plan for this too?" Goku hummed in thought and looked around. Eventually his gaze fell upon Elfman and his demon dog.

"Elfman! You're going to lead the monster to charge straight down the middle!" He ordered.

"Hell yeah! This is definitely the work of a man!"

"That won't work." Baba cut in. "If they start losing they might decide to scatter and then we'll end up having to hunt them down across the entire continent to make sure they don't set up anywhere else."

"Oh that? Leave that to me." Laxus said, his hands crackling with power. "THUNDER PALACE!" Hundreds of spheres erupted from the ground all around the city, taking their place in the sky and lightning up the sky in a yellow glow. Sparks bounced back and forth between the anchors, vaporizing a flock of seagulls and letting the demons know that there was no escaping this battle.

Within the city, Flute glanced out the window and smirked to herself. It was always nice when the opposition did half the work for you.

"Well now. I think this just might work after all." Baba said. "What's the rest of the plan?" Goku turned towards the Thunder Tribe.

"Evergreen, how many people can you keep turned to stone at once?"

"Depends on how long I need to hold it. Less than a dozen I can hold pretty much indefinitely. The more after that though, the harder it gets."

"How long for thirty or so people?"

"Thirty people? Maybe an hour. I take it that I'm going after the other Fairies then?"

"Yeah. Bickslow too. You guys both go with Elfman and help him out." The two nodded in agreement. Freed raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"You're good with the word traps like Levy right?" The green haired man snorted.

"While my magic might not be as dynamic as hers, her skills with traps and tricks pales in comparison with my own."

"Great! Then you can help round up all the civilians. The less damage that we do to them the better, right?"

"What about me?" Natsu said excitedly. "Want me to help you take down Flute? Do I get to storm the guild hall? Do you need me to blow something up?"

"The last one." Stars danced in Natsu's eyes while Gray's eyes slowly widened in horror.

"Seriously? You're letting _him_ loose on the city by himself?"

"No, you two are going together."

"The hell I'm going with him!" Two voices simultaneously shouted.

"Yeah? So you think you can take on Erza one-on-one then?" Goku mused. There was a pause.

"Erza." Gray said.

"Yep." Was Goku's reply.

"We actually get to fight Erza." Natsu asked.  
"Right." Goku said. "Right now, Juvia and Erza are probably going to be the two biggest threats when we're going after Flute. If all three of them are together things are going to get dicey, so I want you guys to try and take her down."

"HELL YES! A real, full power battle with Erza! I'll finally get to show my full power!"

"Oi dumbass, in case you've forgotten, she's kicked our asses literally every single time we've ever faced her! Do you really think we can beat her now?"

"Have you ever both gone at her together? Like, actually together and not just trying to see who could take her down first?" Goku asked. The two teens looked at each other for a long moment.

"Come on Popsicle, don't tell me you froze your balls off!" Natsu goaded.

"Hell, we're probably going to die anyways. Might as well try and get a cool story out of it." Gray said. The two fist bumped and started to laugh. Gray wrapped his white scarf tighter around his neck and Gray tossed his jeans into a heap by on the roadside. The pair were ready.

Just two left.

"Hey Laxus, did you know that I can fly now?" Laxus raised an eyebrow

"Of course you can." Laxus said, his tone neutral and dry as a bone.

"Yep! So, I was thinking that while everybody else distracts the guild, I can just fly you right over their heads and pound on that Flute girl for a bit until she leaves Lucy's body and then we blow up whatever comes out. Cool? Cool."

Laxus could feel the vein in his forehead throbbing. Never in his life had Laxus regret losing a battle so badly.

"You are planning on carrying me over an active battlefield! Why the hell would I let you do that?"

"Cause she stole your guild and if you have to walk there I might be done before you can get a crack at her?"

"…Fine. But just so you are aware, I hate you. I hate you and you are going to pay." Goku shrugged before turning to the last of his companions.

"So, what is my assignment then?" Kagura asked.

"Well, that depends. If you want, you can go back to your brother and keep an eye on things over there to make sure that he gets out of this okay. If things get bad you could get him out of here, make sure he stays safe." Kagura's gaze wavered back towards the direction of the healers hut. She bit her lip and released a long shaky breath. Then she asked him once more.

"What is my assignment?"

Goku gave her a small smile.

"You're going to be flying with Laxus and I, trying to find Juvia. In case you don't know who that is, look for the tidal wave with blue hair. I figured you would probably be best to take her out since Gray's going to be busy with Erza. Plus, water has to follow gravity right? I bet you can pin her down no problem!" The girl nodded in agreement.

"What was your plan if I had taken up your offer to go to my brother?" She asked curiously.

"Eh, I'd probably have just dropped Laxus on her or something." The lightning mage in question twitched.

"There are no words…" He muttered darkly under his breath.

"Question!" Natsu suddenly spoke up. "How are we going to find Erza in the middle of the huge battle?"

"Well, I figured that if there is even a shred of Erza's personality left in there, she's going to run straight towards the first sign of danger. The Council representative building should still be empty right?" Goku asked, pointing towards a small office building in the middle of the city.

"I believe so. As of yet, there is no reason for the Council to be manning it." Freed said. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just looking for a good location to set the trap." He said as he walked over to Natsu and put his hand on the dragon slayer's shoulder. "Ready Natsu?"

"Ready for what?"

"Fire Dragon, Flame Throw!"

Goku used Fling.

A half dozen jaws dropped as a failing, flaming teenager went hurtling over a quarter mile away straight through the window of the building. Almost immediately, wisps of smoke began to curl out through the shattered glass. Gray felt the Reaper breathing down his next as Goku's hand landed on his shoulder.

Goku used Fling.

It was Super Effective.

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Erza broke off from her attempts at rallying the defenders the instant she saw the building catch fire. With the Flame Empress Armor she leapt straight up to the top floor and through the shattered window. She had half a seconds notice before a barrage of ice and fire blasted her straight back out and sent her hurtling down to the street below. Natsu and Gray exchanged looks.

"So how badly do you think she's going to end up hurting us for that?" Gray wondered.

"I don't know, I'm thinking… three broken ribs?"

"I was thinking more like she'd try and snap our arms and legs."

"Death of 100 cuts?"

"Death of 1000 cuts?"

The two were still debating when the massive yellow gauntlets of the giant armor punched through the floor and dragged them down below.

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He was so _fuckin_' manly.

Elfman was in his Beast Form, riding a three headed hellhound with an army of monsters at his back as they invaded a city full of demons that were trying to unleash a Super Demon in order to take over the world. It was, without a doubt, the single manliest thing that he had ever done in his entire life. His heart was pounding like a kick drum in his chest. His blood was boiling hot with adrenalin and his animal instincts were screaming for him to howl into the clouds.

At the bottom of the hill, the possessed citizens and mages were lining up at his sister's back. Thousands of her troops lined the edge of the city, covering the roofs and filling the streets. Every last mage of Fairy was there with the exception of the two S-class, and behind them stood practically the entire population of the town. Elfman's eyes locked with Mirajane's as his mount rushed down the hill.

Bellowing a war cry, he rushed his elder sister dead on and the battle began.

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Goku adjusted Laxus' weight on his back and began to hover off of the ground just as the two sides slammed together far below. Kagura floated on the Flying Nimbus besides them, fingering her sword worriedly.

"Alright…it feels like Erza's over with the guys. I can't sense Juvia at all, so keep on guard."

"We have two sensors, a gravity manipulator, and we're flying half a mile up in the air without a single rain cloud in sight. I think we'll be fine." Laxus grunted. "Personally, I'm a heck of a lot more worried that you're just going to throw me at her the second you catch sight of the bitch."

"I already said, that's what Kagura's for. I'm going to air drop you on Flute instead."

"Air drop?!"

"Nobody ever looks up. She'll never see it coming."

"There'll be a roof in the way."

"I think we've punched enough holes in it that you'll be fine."

The trio was just about to reach the building when a titanic wave of water surged upwards from the sea into the form of a giant fly swatter. Before Kagura even had a chance to use her magic a jet of water with five times the strength of a firehose blasted her from the side and sent her hurtling towards the streets. Goku was left with no room to maneuver as the shaped water closed in and with the weight of approximately a million tons of water pressing down upon him, he and Laxus were swept out of the sky and sent down towards the forest. More and more sea water poured down onto the tree line, salting the earth and leaving the two mages trapped beneath a lake of drowning foliage.

Sitting calmly on the beach, Juvia smiled to herself. Just like Mother had said, the mages had tried to use their flying trick to invade behind their lines. It was too bad that they failed to take into account a simple rule.

A devil never falls for the same trick twice.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: THE WAR FOR MAGNOLIA HAS BEGUN. IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS, THE FATE OF THE WORLD WILL BE DECIDED. WHETHER IT LIVES OR DIES, REST IN THE HANDS OF A HANDFUL OF WARRIORS AND THEIR MONSTER ARMY. BUT WILL IT BE ENOUGH? CAN THEY OVERCOME THE STRENGTH OF THEIR FALLEN FRIENDS? FIND OUT…

NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE RED KEY PART 5: IF YOU WANT BLOOD (YOU GOT IT!)


	38. RK 5: If You Want Blood (You Got It!)

AN: Okay, I just have to check guys. Are you actually enjoying this arc? I know that the reviews that you've sent me are mostly positive, but the number has been going down steadily since I started with this. I'm being completely serious here, is this good or not?

**THE RED KEY PART 5: IF YOU WANT BLOOD (YOU GOT IT!) **

Flute was the 47th child of the class two demon Tambourine. She had been born eight months after her grandfather had been released from his prison. For a few glorious months she had free reign over the Earth, hunting down the pitiful resistance that the Red Ribbon Army provided. When her meticulous nature was discovered, she was tasked with opening up the resistance fighters of each and every species that walked the planet, whether they were human, dog man, dinosaur, or anything in between. She learned more and more with each passing day how best to kill them, torture them, and most of all, understand them. But then she was locked away with her brethren in the Dead Zone by the Guardian, trapped in an unending nothing with no way out.

The other creatures that had been sealed by previous Guardians made for entertainment, but only a few had still been around. In a dimension designed solely to contain the worst of the worst, for a sentence just short of eternity, naturally there had already been a lot of infighting. She wasn't even given that many of them, the rest of her family had wanted their own toys to play with as well.

Hers had only lasted her a month.

So Flute was left with an impossible conundrum. How could she solve her boredom? The only entity left anywhere in the void who wasn't part of the Demon Clan was the Guardian, but his situation made any sort of experimentation impossible. So she floundered. Her hobby, her passion, her LIFE, now completely irrelevant. Until one day, it finally hit her.

If she wanted more test subjects, all she had to do was make them herself.

The end result of this idea was that she became the proud mother of several thousand demonic babies, each and every one a brand new test subject. They were picked apart. They were mutilated. They were ripped up, shredded to pieces both physically and mentally, and then stitched back together again. Over and over, without pause and without mercy, she tore into her children to try and bring out the very best of their abilities. As mere class 4 demons, their powers were barely greater than an average human; but to her, power hardly mattered. That was why she focused on her grandfather's more obscure abilities like possession and magic. Raw strength wasn't a factor when it came to breaking someone's mind.

It was pure luck that she was close enough to capitalize on Lucy's mistake with the skeleton key. It was even luckier that Lucy was part of a group of mages with enough power between them to allow her to open the gate to the Dead Zone through brute force without the proper technique. But the absolute pinnacle of her luck came from the abundancy of magical supplies within the city. Just a twenty-minute stroll through the market had gotten her everything that she needed to construct her beacon.

The Dead Zone was a big place. It was larger than any planet, or a dozen planets. It was larger even, than the stars themselves. Flute's children were only near the portal because they were all hovering around the place that she had vanished from. Her grandfather, along with the rest of the clan, could be weeks away from the portal. They wouldn't have a hope of finding their way out unless she showed them. A crystal array, charged with as much demonic energy as she could put into it, set to send off pulses that were sure to attract the attention of every last member of her family beyond the void.

They were coming.

It was only a matter of when.

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The second wave was twice the size of the first. Juvia's demon shook with laughter as it rode atop the water as it crashed down onto the drowning forest. She had established a barrier with a circumference over a mile wide to keep the water from dispersing and kept adding more and more until she had a semi-sphere that towered over twice the height of anything trapped within it. And there, sitting near the bottom at the very center, were Laxus and Goku.

Laxus had created a Thunder Dome beneath the water, a small little bubble with barely enough free room for either one of them and just enough air to give them a moment to think.

"So…you ever fight this chick before? She was one of the one's who attacked the guild, right?" Laxus asked.

"No…I think that was Gray."

"Ah." Laxus grunted. "We aren't ice-themed strippers, how are _we _going to beat her?"

"Not sure… I don't suppose you could just zap her?"

"Too much water. Even if I knew where the water bitch was, the lighting'd just get dispersed. Any other ideas?"

"I don't know. She wasn't anywhere near this strong the last time around, at least, I don't think she was. I think the demon powered her up."

"Wonderful. Well, you're still in charge. What's your brilliant plan?" Above them, the water began to move. The broken branches of the submerged trees were starting to sway with the current, and little by little the wood began to bend. Goku watched the sudden movement with a frown on his face.

"…Let me get back to you on that."

It began to rain.

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Kagura had crashed straight through a roof and onto a dining table still covered in the food from whatever meal the owners were enjoying before they were enslaved. Her white uniform was now covered in an array of sauces, dressings, all sorts of meat and salad, and topped off with plenty of wood splinters.

Disgusting. Now she was pissed _and_ filthy.

With a groan she pushed herself out of the wreckage and made her way towards the door. Off in the distance she could see an enormous ball of water beneath a steadily growing storm cloud, likely where Goku and Laxus were now. Behind her she could hear the cries of battle as Elfman's army of monster clashed with the possessed mages of Fairy Tail and the rest of the Magnolia's citizenry. Ahead of her, the Fairy Tail guild house glowed ominously against the darkened, cloudy sky.

For a moment, she hesitated.

Goku had told her to take out the water mage, but at this point it might not even be an option. They were on a time limit, and unless someone took out Flute now everything would be over. There was no choice really. So she marched forward.

A flick of her powers stripped away the debris from her figure as she marched towards the door with her sword in hand. Her grip was hovering next to the seal as she debated with herself over whether or not she should release it. The power increase could be useful, but without control there was no telling what kind of side effects such an action would have.

"…Better to die at my own hands I suppose." She muttered. With a hard yank the seal came undone and slowly fell to the ground. Instantly she felt her power spike upwards as the sword's energy flowed through her and the wisps of her Ki began to circle around her core. The gravity around her doubled, then tripled, and continued growing to the point that the very air was getting uncomfortably difficult to breathe. When she reached the door to the guild it collapsed into splinters from her mere presence, and as she stepped over the remains those splinters were crushed into pulp. Flute looked up from her work on the beacon and locked eyes with the young sword mistress. Then with a snort she turned back around to her work and shrugged.

"I was expecting the monkey man." She said dismissively. "Or if not him, then at the very least the fire boy. He seems like the type who could force his way through on sheer willpower alone."

"They were otherwise occupied. Shall I endeavor to defeat you in their place?" Kagura asked as she pulled her sword from its sheath. Flute didn't even bother to turn around.

"That blade is more crutch than weapon in your hand. You'd have been better off leaving that seal on. All you've done now is trade away all of your control for power. That's the mark of an amateur, desperately trying to compensate for your own weakness and getting an even worse one in its place." Kagura's hand slowly tightened on the hilt of her sword as Flute talked, edging towards the demoness as quietly as she could.

"You can feel it can't you? Your bloods pumping just a shade too fast. Your balance is just oh so slightly off, and you feel a little lopsided towards your left. Your brain feels heavy in your skull, like it's pushing you to the ground. Your hands are trembling, just enough that you can pretend it's your nerves. That's why your magical core is aching right? It's just nerves, your adrenaline is pumping so of course your magic would respond in kind. It has nothing to do with the overwhelming amount of power you suddenly thrust upon it, overworking it well past its maximum. Don't fool yourself, that sword might have the power to challenge me, but there is nothing more laughably pathetic than a warrior trying to wield a blade too big for her."

With a roar Kagura finished closing the distance between them in an instant and brought the blade down with all of her strength. Flute spun around in the same moment, both a golden and crimson key in hand. The pure white cutting magic met with a mixture of red and polluted yellow in the space between them. They stayed locked together for a second that seemed too stretched on for eternity, before all the magic was sucked up into a swirling black sphere the size of an almond. Kagura was sent skidding backwards by the sudden plus of magic, her shoes were unable to find purchase. Lucy's body had no such issue, and Flute weathered the blast with a look of total disinterest.

"But don't worry, not everything going wrong with you has to do with your little mistake. That clamminess in your palms that's making it harder to grip your blade? That trickle of sweat you can feel running down your face? The shiver down your back? That icy claw that's digging its way into your chest? I assure you, that's all completely natural for someone realizing that they are about to die."

The black sphere slowly started to expand. As it grew Kagura's gravity powers began to waver. She was no longer in control of the force inside of the building anymore. Instead, every last object in the room began to tilt towards the whirling darkness.

"Your gravity powers are decent, easily above average. But tell me, do you know what the source of the ultimate level of gravity is? A pull so strong that not even light itself can escape?" The black sphere began to wobble violently, as though something was trying to break out from within. Kagura's hair was flying wildly now, straight towards the sphere. She pawed at it blindly, trying to pull it out of her field of vision but it was practically stuck in the air. Her gravity manipulation had never been pushed further but it was all she could do to keep herself in place. Through her tangled hair she could just barely see Flute's thin smile as she coldly brought the two keys up towards the withering mass.

"**Open, Gate of Corruption. Corrupted Gate of the Lion, LEO!"** Slowly, the darkness condensed into the form of a fur-covered man. He was garbed in a tattered jacket and his eyes held the emptiness of nothing. The figure leered down at Kagura and suddenly the all the magically gravitational fields in the room were canceled out. Including her own.

"The answer is a black hole." Flute waved goodbye to the young girl and turned back to her work.

The darkened star lion advanced and Kagura's world trembled.

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Natsu and Gray let out simultaneous groans of pain as they tried to pick themselves back up onto their feet.

"So…" Natsu said as he clutched at his chest. "I'm pretty sure I got the three broken ribs covered."

"Great." Gray moaned. "No broken limbs yet, but I'm pretty sure she broke my pinky finger."

"Nice. How many cuts are we up to?"

"Thirty-eight." Erza answered, her eyes glittering with malice "There are nine-hundred and sixty-two more to go. Only then will you have my permission to die."

The pair stared at her and shivered. Despite her possession, there was something all too Erza about the way the demon spoke.

The three were all still inside the council building, though now it was more of a council ruin now. Walls had been smashed in, every last window had been shattered. Most of the ceiling had been burned away, support beams had been sliced in two, and the only thing keeping it from collapsing were the sporadic pillars of frost that glistened in the firelight. The entire place was on its last leg, fit to crumble at any moment.

It had only been four minutes since the fight began.

"Hey Flame Brain, pull your head out of your butt and get it in the game. You're getting smacked around way more than me." Gray declared, smirking at the fire mage.

"Whatever, Frosty the Lame-man, At least I'm doing some damage! Just look at her face!" he pointed.

Gray squinted. "The hell are you talking about?"

"What, did she blind you? I burned off half an eyebrow!"

"Oh wow." Gray snorted. "Maybe, if you let her break the rest of your ribs can get the rest of it. Sure you'll be dead, but her face will be totally lopsided. That'll show her."

"Pft, says the guy who just let her grab you with the giant armor, what were you trying to do, cool her off?"

"I was trying to keep her close to freeze up her joints! It would have worked if you hadn't charged in and melted everything like a clumsy campfire!"

"Maybe if your plans weren't so lame, I wouldn't have had the chance to ruin them?"

"Chance to ruin them? Whose side are you on, you flaming idiot?"

The demon inhabiting Erza's body stared down in befuddlement. This wasn't how prey was supposed to react; it'd looked at some of this body's memories. These two were supposed to be terrified of her.

Somehow, it couldn't help but feel insulted.

"Oy!" it shouted. "Pay attention when I'm trying to destroy you!" it shifted into the flight armor and blitzed towards them. They barely had time to look up before it had hurled them into the crumbling walls. The demon grinned, maybe that would teach them to pay attention.

"Oy? Erza never says oy." Natsu complained, pulling his head out of the wall and shooting it a withering glance. "What kind of impersonator are you?"

"Yeah, go back to being threating!" Gray said, shooting it an identical look. "That was like Erza. Either pretend to be her or don't. But pick one and stick with it!"

"I don't need to pretend to be anything. Your friend is gone, I am all that remains."

"Right, sure." Gray rolled his eyes. "Nice try, demon guy. But you're just some inky blot of crud that shoved its way up our friends nose."

The demon stared at them. "…What?"

"You heard the ice moron." Natsu snorted, cracking his knuckles. "You're just an evil booger. Consider us the finger that's gonna pick you out and flick you away."

Gray stared at him. "Why did you have to make it gross?" he asked in disgust.

"What, are you squeamish, Ice-cream man?"

The demon's eye started to twitch. "…You're mocking me."

The two Fairy Tail mages exchanged smirks before grinning at their possessed friend innocently.

"Who, us?" Gray said

"I don't think we'd do that would we?" Natsu asked.

"Inconceivable!" Gray declared. The smile slowly dropped from Natsu's face.

"Huh?" He said blankly. Gray paused for a moment.

"Unthinkable?" He said slowly.

"Ah!" Natsu exclaimed in sudden comprehension. Then his eyes narrowed. "Why the heck didn't you just say that? Are you just trying to make me look stupid?"

"I wasn't _trying _to. Apparently that's just an added bonus." Gray shot back.

"Well screw you too, you stupid flasher fetishist!" As the two continued to bicker the demon found its blood pumping harder which each moment that they continued to ignore its existence. Finally it snapped, and with a roar Erza's body charged towards them with a sword raised high. The two boys looked up at the charging girl and promptly slammed their fists together in some kind of weird fist bump. Fire met ice and suddenly the pair vanished within a wall of steam.

Erza leapt backwards with her arms up to shield her eyes, and once her vision was cleared again the pair was gone. Sighing in annoyance, the girl donned her Adamantine armor to protect herself from any sort ambush and began to scour around through the building for her prey.

In the rafters directly above her, Gray eyed Natsu.

"Okay, we've made her angry like you said. What's the next part of this plan of yours?"

"Isn't it obvious? You guys always say that people fight worse when they're angry, so if she's all pissed off then we'll have a better chance, right?"

Gray stared at him as if he was a total idiot. "…That was your plan? This is Erza we're talking about. When has making her angry ever ended well for either of us?"

"We just went over this. That's not Erza. It just happens to look a heck of a lot like her." Natsu's grin was nothing less than sinister.

After a moment of thought, Gray's face slowly stretched out to match. "Bet you I take her down before you."

"In your dreams, stripper."

The two began to chuckle quietly as they began to hunt the hunter.

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The collision between the two armies lay waste to the outskirts of the city. Buildings were crushed beneath the massive serpent, homes were annihilated underneath the combine force of dozens of mages. A small playground tucked away in a sunny little was flattened by Elfman's mount as it tried to chase down the demonic forces. And as much as he wanted to mourn the destruction of his home, as much as he wanted it to end, Elfman had no choice but to continue battling onwards.

Atop a building Alzack and Bsica had been going full out, firing down on every last monster within their range. He had ordered the larger monsters to cover the smaller, weaker monsters from the assault, yet the bullets still ripped into their forces until Fang, in his bat form, along with his Succubus girlfriend had dropped on the snipers from above and the barrage had ceased.

On the ground Bandages had made a surprisingly effective team with Evergreen. Using his namesake, the ancient mummy would lash out and snag either mages or the occasional tenacious Rune Knight and yanked them back to have a face to face meeting with the young witch. Then Bandages would toss aside its new stone statue and go fishing for more.

Occasionally one of the thousands of civilians would suddenly slump to the ground unconscious with no visible reason. That was the only evidence of See-Through's stroll through their ranks, twirling an equaling invisible baseball bat that he used with extreme prejudice.

Eighter wandered through the battlefield mostly unmolested. Possessed civilians bounced off his massive form, weapons broke against his skin, and anyone that got within range was quickly flung back into the crowd.

The giant spider was nothing less than a juggernaut. Towering above the mages and monsters alike, spells and thrown stones bounced off its carapace as it spewed webbing all over the possessed people, snarling them up and blocking any who dodged the webs from entering the fray.

Freed and Bickslow were running around the perimeter, the former laying down traps while the later and his babies bombarded anyone that tried to get close. The three puppets blasted their way through, butchers, bakers, and bridesmaids as they cleared the way for the runic traps. Any time one of the demons entered they found themselves stuck in barriers that would only release the last man standing. They quickly turned on one another, and the ones left standing were easy pickings for any passing member of the monster army.

But things weren't going quite so easily all across the battlefield.

A towering werewolf chased a group of knife wielding hooligans down an alley suddenly found itself pinned to the ground beneath a hoard of school children that threw themselves from the roof. The hooligans quickly joined in and the monster found itself ripped limb from limb.

The Anubites had charged a squad of a dozen Rune Knights, a mass of claws and teeth rushing a disciplined wall of steel and magic. In the end three knights lay on the ground, while their fellows were left cleaning dog blood from their blades.

The wyvern, as one of the only threats from the sky, found itself harried from the moment it took off. Dozens of spells of all kinds whistled past its wings or bounced off its scales. But a flare of purple fire stabbed into its eye and sent it plummeting to the ground, where it was set upon and torn to pieces. As powerful as the monster army was, as versatile and skilled as they were, their forces were a mere fraction of what Magnolia had to throw against them. It didn't help that the monsters needed to hold back from killing as much as possible and the demons had no such restriction.

Of course, that hardly meant that they were going to just roll over and let the demons win. Elfman was far too manly for that and his Cerberus companion was manly enough for _three_ men. Together they rushed headlong into the largest pack of Fairy Tail mages with a quartet of howls that echoed across the battlefield. Laki summoned a set of wooden stakes in an attempt to spear his mount, but with a snort one of the heads snapped at them and they shattered like toothpicks. The bespectacled girl snarled and the roots of nearby trees erupted from the ground, to tangle up the Cerberus's legs, but her efforts came to an abrupt when Elfman leapt from his mount and slammed an oversized fist on top of the her head. Even as the girl was slumping to the ground Elfman was already spinning on his heels to back fist Reedus across the street before the round man could bring any of his paintings to life.

Even as the painter bounced away, Nab, Wakaba, and Macao were already rushing in. A burst of pipe smoke exploded upwards and caught Cerberus full in the face, throwing it into a sneezing fit. Macao unleashed a barrage of flames, forcing Elfman to leap upwards toward the roof. Nab leapt up to follow but a set of canine jaws shot out of the smoke and snatched him away. Elfman waved at the two remaining mages before disappearing over the side of the roof.

With dual groans of annoyance Macao and Wakaba left Nab to his fate as a chew toy, and ran down the streets, trying to find where the monster man had vanished to. Then they turned a corner and stopped short at the sight of a massive foot blocking their path. The older men craned their necks up. And up. And up.

Elfman had shifted to the Beast's gigantic size and was casually leaning up against the church whose bell had signaled the beginning of Flute's invasion. The hulking beast-man plucked the bell from its tower and slammed it down, trapping them inside.

Elfman smacked the side of the bell. If he really strained his ears, he could just barely hear the screams of pain beneath the clanging. He waited until the ringing died away and tipped up one side of the bell curiously. Wakaba and Macao laid still, their hands over their ears and twitching.

The beast snuffled for a moment in satisfaction for a moment before hoisting the bell over his shoulder and shuffling off in search of more targets.

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Gajeel, being Gajeel, had snuck up to the first Rune Knight that he could find, bit the man's sword in half, and then lead two squadrons of them on a merry chase deep into the city, straight towards their own local headquarters. He leapt through the doors with a mocking cackling and his pursuers were quick to follow. Just a handful of minutes later saw the building reduced to a pile of rubble. Gajeel absently ripped a large splinter of wood from the remains of what had once been a wall and began to pick his teeth, trying to remove a stubborn piece of steel from one of the many sets of armor that he had devoured during the battle. The dragon slayer let out a hearty burp and patted his stomach before he started walking down the street, hunting for his next meal.

That was when something slimy slapped him right upside the face. The metal man stood frozen as the object slowly slide down the side of his cheek before flopping down to the ground. Slowly Gajeel's gaze dropped to look at the offending projectile. A dead, slimy fish stared back up at him with empty eyes. Then, a pair of tiny blue feet pawed into the edge of his field of vision and the dragon slayer's head came back up to see Happy carrying another fish like a club over his shoulder and snarling up at armored dragon slayer.

"…The fucking cat?" Gajeel was silent for a moment then bent double, howling with laughter. Seriously, he wanted to feel insulted, but it was just so fucking funny. A demonic harbinger of the apocalypse, trapped in a twelve-inch tall, talking goddamn cat. He could barely breathe.

The cat smirked and sprouted a pair of wings to rise up to meet Gajeel face to face. With a battlecry the little feline swung his second fishy club. Gajeel's head snapped up and he caught the improvised weapon with his teeth. With a yank he stole the food from the cat and ate the entire thing whole, bones and all. The two stared at one another, matching malicious grins on their face. Then the grin on Gajeel's face began to slip. His hand dipped down towards his stomach and his vision began to blur.

"P-poison?" Gajeel gasped, bent double now for something other than laughter and fully enraged. He hadn't been able to smell anything but rotten fish, and the cat must have known that! That sneaky little bastard!

"AYE SIR!" Happy sang. Then his smile grew even wider. A swirl of red magic began to surround his body before his body slowly began to swell. Teeth elongated, muscles doubled, then tripled. Fur lengthened, nails sharpened, and innocent eyes turns predatory. Five seconds later, Gajeel found himself staring up at an eight-foot tall winged monstrosity.

"Bad Cat! No treats for you!" He slurred, trying to straighten and wincing as the poison sent another stab of pain through his gut.

Then Happy punched him through a wall.

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The demon that had taken over Mirajane knew two things.

First, that the monster army that was invading the city was pushing back the Demon Clan's forces.

Secondly, her new body had the ability to turn the tides if she could just figure out how to tap into its power.

She had sat her new body down atop the roof of a small apartment complex, far from the battle. She sighed deeply and allowed her eyes to close as she began to meditate. This body had far more power locked behind the mental walls of trauma, pain, and regret. Such things meant nothing to a demon. It was devoid of empathy, of that insidious knack for self-guilt that ate at mortals so. All it needed to do was push through the walls and all that power would be at its finger tips.

A scaled green creature wandered throughout Mirajane's mindscape; a place like a foggy, ancient graveyard. Dead trees surrounded a field of stones, no insects buzzed, no crows cawed. There was nothing but silence and drab empty colors.

The only splash of feeling was a small temple in the center of the graveyard, where a mural of the three Straus siblings laughing together sat surrounded down softly glowing candles.

The demon scoffed at the obvious sentimentality and tore the mural from the wall, behind it was a chamber with four ebony coffins leaning against the wall. Two of them were chained shut with a sea of chains and locks. But the other two…

With a grin, the demon stalked across the chamber, its claws sunk into the crack of one of the coffins and pulled. Wood groaned, nails creaked, and the lid tore off slamming against the floor like a gate prison door slamming open. Purple smoke began pouring out from the container and the scaly creature laughed as a figure suddenly shot up through the mist and took to the sky, a pair of batwings carrying them upwards.

Back in the real world, Mirajane's eyes snapped open. Her eyes glittered black and her tail thrashed against the ground in excitement as her wings stretched out in the air behind her, excited to be free after years of neglect. Then in the blink of an eye she had darted across the battlefield and appeared before one of the gigantic snakes that had been keeping her forces at bay. Her hands shot out and caught a fang on the top and bottom of the reptile's mouth before she gave it a single hard yank. The force of it tore the creature neatly in half along its length, leaving behind a trail of blood and guts that coated the street and many of the fighters. The few demons that had been facing the snake cheered at her arrival, a cheer that grew louder and louder as she took to the sky to search out her next victim. It was only a matter of seconds before the demons knew about their newest fighter, and their utter glee gave them a new fighting spirit that allowed them to slowly push back the tide.

Slowly, her eyes drifted over the battlefield until she caught sight of the Beast as it tore through her ranks. Laughing to herself, the demoness took to the sky.

It was time to permanently stamp out all feelings of sentimentality.

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""BANZAI!" In true Leroy Jenkins style, Natsu leapt from the rafters like a flaming cannonball down atop of Erza. The girl spun around and was able to get her shield up to block the blow inches before it struck and shoved Natsu straight across the room.

"Fool!" She snapped. "What's the point of a sneak attack if you scream about it?" Natsu sat up with a wince and shrugged.

"Okay, now you're sounding like Erza again," he muttered. "And where's the fun in hiding? I won't get as many points if I attack you in the back."

"Points…?" Erza raised a brow. Natsu nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! How else are we going to figure out who won? Though it doesn't look like Icicle cares all that much about the point's deduction for cheap shots." That was all the warning Erza had before a ball of ice the size of a cannonball crashed into the side of her head and sent her staggering way. She regained her bearings just in time to catch a flaming fist to the face. She was sent crashing through a wall and as she pulled herself together her ears were assaulted by the sounds of idiots arguing.

"No way, flame brain, you wouldn't have even gotten that hit in if it wasn't for me!"

"So what? I attacked her from the front and got her in the face! You used a sneak attack, I should get way more points for that!"

"Then you should lose points for being an idiot! Banzai? What are you, a kamikaze fighter?"

"You're just jealous that I go the better hit off!"

Possessed or not, Erza Scarlet was not one to suffer fools kindly.

A quick flash between the Flight and the Giant armor had the two boys pinned down, gasping as Erza's hands wrapped around their throats and slowly tried to squeeze the life out of them. The fire burning in Natsu's eyes slowly started to die as the oxygen began out, and the small grunts escaping Gray's mouth grew softer and softer as his face turned blue. The red head smiled maliciously as the life began to fade from their eyes.

The snap was coming, just a little more pressure…

But neither boy was about to give her the chance.

It was as though the apocalypse exploded right in front of Erza's face. Her left gauntlet was suddenly consumed by a swirling inferno so intense that it literally began to melt under the assault, while her other was suddenly trapped in an arctic blast that made the metal so brittle that it shattered under Gray's hands.

Erza leapt backwards and donned the Flight armor once more, with a short sword in each hand. Natsu eyes were blazing red as flames danced around his form, while ice was slowly creeping across Gray's chest like a suit of armor. An icy mist leaked from his form that curled around into the air. But any wisp of it that came anywhere near Natsu was instantly blown away, as the air around the dragon slayer was visibly wavering from the heat.

"You ready, Frosty? I'm pretty far ahead now, so I understand if you feel like giving up."

"You wish flame brain. Just try and keep up." They rushed at her from either side, forcing the girl to dash backwards to place her back against the wall. She parried a flaming fist with the flat of her sword and slammed an elbow into Gray's gut as he attempted to flank her. Her second sword went straight for his neck but Gray managed to defend himself with a Cold Excalibur and retreated a few steps away.

She switched a single arm to her Flame Empress guard in order to shrug off the blast of a Fire Dragon's Roar and dashed forwards, catching Natsu by the throat before she spun around to launch him into Gray's chest. She followed immediately after, unleashing her blades like a whirlwind. A dozen shallow cuts suddenly erupted all across their bodies as she worked to fulfill their expectations of her. With a look of absolute rapture she licked a speck of blood that had splattered on her cheek and flipped her sword around to smash it into Gray's chest hilt first. The sound of breaking bones was accompanied by his agonized wail as he stumbled backwards. Natsu leapt in front of his injured comrade, shrugging off the next 3 cuts with a snarl as he tried to counter.

"**FIRE DRAGON: IRON FIST!"** Erza switched her second arm to Flame Empress as and shot both palms forward to catch the attack in midair. The two stood deadlocked, pushing against one another, trying for any sort of advantage. Their muscles strained and sweat covered their brows as they tried to overpower one another. Then, without warning, Erza let go. A quick step had her beside the dragon slayer, who suddenly found himself helplessly off balance. There was another flash and the gauntlet of the Purgatory armor closed around his wrist. A single twist filled the air with yet another crack followed by more agonized cries. A trio of cannonballs forced Erza to step back before she could finish him off, and with effort the two Fairies managed to take up their position side by side once more.

"Okay…so." Gray panted. "I'm willing to call this a draw, how about you?"

"Sounds good." Natsu moaned. "I think I'm pretty sick of this anyways."

"I don't believe that you will be getting the choice." Erza snapped at the pair. The two calmly ignored her.

"So…we are united in how done we are with this? Does it work like that?" Gray muttered.

"Screw it, I'm willing to try." The two joined hands and called forth their power. Swirls of blue and red erupted around them, their colors off put by the crimson demonic aura that still filtered the sky. The floor began to crack underneath their power, and the debris surrounding them began to kick up around their feet. Erza moved to intercept them, but her forward movement came to an abrupt halt before she could even pick up any steam. She looked down in surprise to see a thick layer of ice slowly climbing up her legs, trapping her in place. Snarling, she pulled back her arm to launch her sword like a javelin. A miniature glacier sprouted up out of the ground and easily caught the attack. Roaring, the girl switched to her Heaven's Wheel armor and with a thrust of her wings she shattered the ice and took to the sky. But it was too late.

The boys' spell was charged.

**"UNISON RAID: FROZEN HELLFIRE!"** A massive pillar of fire shot up from beneath her feet, flames licking at her body even as ice crackled around it. She wailed out in agony as the frost crawled up her body, cutting off only once the ice closed over her head. With an unimpressive thud, the new ice sculpture feel to the ground. The two mages sighed in relief.

"Next time we fight her, maybe we figure out how to sync up sooner so we don't end up bleeding everywhere." Gray panted.

"Like hell." Natsu wheezed. "Next time she won't be a demon and we can go back to trying to beat her on our own. I'm going to take her down first!" Gray just wearily shook his head. The two stood in companionable silence until a flash of purple filled their vision.

"That…that was Mirajane, wasn't it?" Gray muttered, closing his eyes in exhaustion. Natsu nearly collapsed, but steeled himself.

"Yep." He groaned. "Well, I guess we know where we are heading next." The two mages, broken and bleed, pulled themselves together and marched themselves out of the building. Their thirty second break was up, time to get back to war.

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Far above the battleground, Baba sat atop of her crystal ball, watching as her army struggled against the demons. She had been observing everything, but had been focusing on the battle of steel, fire, and ice for the sake of her guest.

"Well? Is the girl what you are looking for?" said Baba, glancing sideways at her companion.

The cloaked figure, no taller than baba herself, tilted its head to the side. Then spoke in a voice of regal beauty, like a waterfall off a mountain's peak. "Perhaps. I shall make use of her for now, as the defeat of the Demon Clan takes priority. After that… we shall see."

"Great, great, glad to help. Now get down there, we're gonna need you."

The cloaked figure snorted and began to descend.

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"Got it!" Laxus shouted. Goku cocked his head and waited for the man to continue.

"…Yeah?" He said slowly.

"Stall her for me." Laxus kicked Goku, knocking him out of the protective bubble.

Goku's outrage came out as bubbles as he was swept away with the current. A tree caught him in the face a moment later and sent him spinning wildly out of control. Laxus laughed.

Revenge was awesome.

Refocusing, he kicked off, shooting as much lightning as tightly as he could straight down. He shot upwards like a rocket, cutting through the water and breaking into the clouds before Juvia could catch on to what he was doing. This water bitch couldn't see everything. He laughed and dispersed his body into the clouds.

Goku was left scrambling to orient himself. Debris from the ruined forest crashed into his body every few seconds, and it was only through sheer mental resilience that he managed to stop himself from gasping at each impact and waste his air. Instead he slowly began to crank up his Ki in an effort to propel himself through the water like he would through the sky. But Juvia was wise to his trick and upped the intensity, redirecting every current that she could to send as many tree, rocks, and anything else that she had washed up into the fighter. Goku found himself in constant motion as he tried to punch, kick, or blast away as many obstacles as he could. But when he caught sight of a flash of orange heading straight towards his head, he froze. He caught the object moments before impact, and turned it around to confirm his fear.

Four little red stars winked up at him.

Goku began to look around in a panic before he caught sight of it. His house, his grandfather's old home, had been ripped up from the ground and mixed in with the rest of the wreckage. It had been torn apart and splintered into dozens of pieces, each and every one of which was bearing down straight towards him. About a ton of ruined wood smashed him towards the ground, and soon a pile of trees had been stacked atop of it. He was pinned down beneath his own home, the place that he had spent ages rebuilding just the way his grandpa had left it. Now the entire thing was ruined beyond all hope of repair, and once again he had lost one of his few remaining connections to his only family member.

Goku's world went red.

Juvia watched with a smug grin as all signs of motion beneath the ever-growing pile of debris ceased. That was one enemy that wouldn't bother her again. She loved this body; its power was simply wonderful.

A glint of orange caught her eye and she froze. Her head turned in disbelief as an orange starred orb whirled past her through the water. She gestured and the currents guided the ball back to her and she stared at it in disbelief.

A dragon ball.

There were dragon balls on this world.

That was…it was incredible. She had to tell Flute, she had to let her mother know what she had discovered as soon as possible. The Demon King would be ecstatic when he found out, at long last he would have a chance at his wish. A chance that had been denied when the balls of their previous realm where discovered to have vanished. Now she just-

**"KAIO KEN!"**

Juvia was snapped from her wonder when the entire bubble tinted red. She looked down towards her supposed victim to see a cloud of splinters and a red rocket that was suddenly flying against the current. The entire bubble was vibrating, she could sense Goku's very Ki roaring out in indignant rage. Boulders, trees, it didn't matter what got in his way, everything was blasted to pieces the moment they got close.

Juvia was surprised when the rocket shot straight past her body, then realized it had snagged the dragon ball from her hand and was zipping around the bubble, snatching other glitters of orange from the torrent. Then Goku turned and charged towards the center of the whirlpool. Startled by his speed, Juvia didn't get a chance to react before the martial artist came to a stop just a scant twenty feet below her, completely engulfed in a sphere of angry red power. His arms were throw up towards the sky and his eyes were boring down onto her as though he was staring straight through to judge her very soul.

**"HEAT DOME!" **At the exact moment that Goku unleashed his attack, a sudden glow lit up behind Juvia's back. She didn't even have a moment to process the sudden flash of lightning. She didn't have time to wonder how Laxus had turned her own rainstorm against her to summon a lightning storm the likes of which hadn't been seen in centuries. She couldn't even begin to figure out how she might escape the situation unscathed. Instead, all she could do was scream as two dozen lightning bolts crashed all around her bubble the exact moment a blazing beam of Ki struck her from below. With a blinding flash the bubble disintegrated and the blue haired girl's charred form began to fall towards he ground.

Laxus landed next to the fallen water mage, staring at her impassively. Goku quickly joined him, his pockets bulging with the magical balls. He choked down his anger and buried it to the side as he quickly checked the girl over, trying to make sure that she wasn't so badly damaged that she might die. As bad as she looked, the wounds were mostly superficial and weren't beyond the capabilities of a skilled medic to correct. Satisfied, Goku stepped away and carefully began to stretch himself out. With a satisfied grunt as his back cracked, he turned towards the lightning mage once more. The two exchanged a short look. They both knew what was coming next, just as they both knew that things were only going to get even more difficult from here. Goku reached within himself and touched upon the smoldering embers of his rage, just to make sure it was still there. His rage would be a necessity for the battle to come.

"Let's go."

Laxus caught the look in his eye and grinned. "Bought time."

Goku grabbed Laxus and they shot into the sky.

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DRAGON BALL Z EPIC ANNOUNCER MAN VOICE MAN: THINGS ARE HEATING UP, AND THE CONFRONTATION WITH FLUTE IS APPROACHING. BUT THE DEMONS ARE FAR FROM DEFEATED. NEXT TIME ON ESCALATION! THE RED KEY PART 6: BACK IN BLACK.

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**Hello friends!**

**It's Sturm and Drang with another Omake. **

**Yay.**

**To those of you who requested, sorry, Amora is not in it. If it satisfies you, assume she seduced Mira every single time they met over Mira's wilder days. Each time Mira swore it would be the last time she would fall for the love mage's wiles, and each time, she was wrong.**

**MOVING ON! This omake is only canon with the story if you really want it to be.**

HM45: I say no, it is not canon to my story.

**S&amp;D: (Don't listen to him, it can be canon if you truly believe it is!)**

**Omake #NobodyCares: Family Bonding.**

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Flute stretched, sighing in pleasure as her aching muscles relaxed. She settled deeper into the comfy chair her darlings had fetched for her. There was just something about opening a portal to the demonic realms and dooming a plane of existence that really wore a girl out.

And there was _still _so much to do; grandfather wasn't going to summon himself after all. Nonetheless, she could afford to take a brief respite.

She let her eyes roam over the guild, watching her children. They were like little puppies, granted, puppies that were actually evil parasites bent on global destruction, but puppies nonetheless: rolling around, exploring their surroundings, testing out their host's magic, and tripping over their own feet. In time, they'd get used to their new bodies.

Some were doing better than others. Wakaba was bent double; his knees and face both planted against the floor as he crawled around like an inchworm. Next to him, Bisca sat at a table, fiddling with several guns she'd accidently summoned. Reedus lay flat on his back, like an overturned beetle, he was flailing his limbs in a vain attempt to push himself upright. Above their heads, Happy wheeled through the air, the picture of elegance and self-control.

"Trumpet? Come here for a moment." Said Flute, gesturing to Levy, who was sitting at the bar and examining a magnificent orange quill with an intrigued look. The bluenette looked left and right before shooting Lucy a bemused look.

"But…I'm Violin," said Levy.

Lucy blinked. "Oh? Sorry darling, I thought you were Trumpet."

"Nah, Trumpet's over there." Levy pointed. Alzack, lying halfway beneath a table, looked up at his name and waved before going back to trying to figure out how to get the legs to work. He could move them just fine, but getting them to stand up was giving him trouble.

"Ah. My apologies." Flute shrugged. "I'm afraid now that you've all clothed yourselves in these bags of meat I'm having trouble telling who's who. Regardless, come here."

"Yes Mother." Levy pushed herself off her seat and, somewhat stiffly, walked over. "How may I serve you?"

"I would like you to tell me how the long until the town is under our complete control. We can't have grandfather showing up with a half dominated town. It would be… embarrassing."

"Well, a number of the citizens have wards built into their homes; a darwinian necessity for one living near the fairies. My brothers and sisters are working their way through them, but it may take another hour or two. Apart from that, we've easily dominated ninety percent of the people."

"Excellent." Flute purred. Perhaps she'd just rest until the domination was complete. Grandfather wouldn't care, he'd be too busy rewarding her for bringing him to this world. A whole new world to conquer and enslave. A world that would unfailingly kneel beneath—

Flute's train of thought was interrupted by a series of crashes, like a water filled drum falling down stairs sounded behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, irritated.

"What is that racket?"

"I'll shall investigate at once, mother," the demon in Happy—Cello? — saluted, and zipped downward through a door behind the bar. He emerged a moment later, dragging Cana by the hair. His progress was hampered by the enormous barrel the possess card mage was clinging to like lifeline.

The mage was covered in a sticky pink liquid that smelled of spice, her mouth was wrapped firmly around the barrels bong and she was drinking from it desperately, even as she was deposited in front of Flute.

"Saxophone!" Flute snapped.

"Yeah?" said Macao, leaning over the second floor railing.

Flute closed her eyes, refusing to feel abashed. Embarrassment was for lesser creatures.

"Banjo." she tried again, refusing to allow a sigh of relief to escape when the card mage froze guiltily, finally pulling her mouth off the barrel.

"Y-yes mother?" Red liquid continued to pour from the barrel, splashing over the mages face. Even as the demon stared up in fear, she could not seem to stop from surreptitiously sticking out her tongue and attempting to lap up the stray droplets.

Flute leaned forward. "Do tell me, my child. What, exactly, do you think you are doing?"

"I-I do not know."

Flute raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I was attempting to acclimate this body to my use, when I heard something calling me into that cellar," the mage babbled, nodding toward the door she had been dragged from. "I found this barrel," she paused looking haunted, "it…it spoke to me mother."

Flute blinked, "spoke to you?" she ignored the light snickers from watching demons.

"I mean it!" Banjo insisted, shaking the barrel. "It whispered sweet songs in my ears. Promising me sweet intoxication and a beautiful world of bliss. I could not… could not…" The mage trailed off as she stared at the barrel, then started chugging the liquid once more.

Flute stared, not quite sure what was happening. She was curious despite herself as to how much Banjo had already drunk. The barrel already sounded only half full after a mere twenty minutes of possession. A human body could only drink so much liquid, let alone booze. She wondered which was going to rupture first: Cana's stomach or her liver?

"What are you doing?!" The demon in Happy hissed. Flute eyed the cat, no that wasn't Cello, was it Guitar? He'd always been a serious one… perhaps she should have her children fashion nametags? If only so she could save face from trying to figure out who was who.

Happy zipped downward and tried to tug the barrel from Tambourine's hands. The demon shrieked like a banshee and, still flat on her back, kicked him out of the air.

Happy went spiraling away and slammed into the back on Bisca's head. She yelped and dropped one of her guns, there was a band and a missile materialized and rocketed into the crowd of mages. They jumped, lurched, and inch wormed desperately out of the way and the projectile hit the wall, exploding and throwing scraps of wood and smoke everywhere.

"How dare you!" Erza shrieked. The possessed requip mage stomped over and grabbed Bisca by the ear. "Such carelessness must be punished!" she sank a gauntleted fist into the gun mage's face and hurled her across the room. There were yells and magic circles popped into existence, launching all kinds of spells in every direction.

And just like that, everything descended into chaos.

Alzack, still half under the table was taking potshots into the crowd as Max whipped a wall of sand towards Mira. Nab ripped up the job board and started beating another Wakaba over the head, only to be dive-bombed by Happy from above.

In the midst of it all, a tiny oasis of calm in a sea of battle, sat Flute. Staring in bafflement as her children raised all kinds of hell around her. Smoke, fire, lightning, lasers, water, fruit, brooms, and punches flew; everything was a weapon in the eyes of the battling Fairies.

And it _was_ the Fairies. Flute realized. Her children were in control of the Fairies minds and bodies. But somehow the inherent behavioral imprints of the mages were still displaying themselves. She eyed Cana, still blissfully chugging away at her alcohol, occasionally throwing a card or two into the fray without looking. Yes, it must be behavior imprinting. No child of _hers_ was a hopeless alcoholic.

Flute supposed she should do something, if any of the other class-three demons saw her children like this it would be _mortifying_.

"You are all undisciplined wretches! You will cease this nonsense at once or face my wrath!" Erza screamed, summoning a sword and waving it through the air as she half strangled Laki with her other hand.

"G-Get timbered!" the wood mage gasped, gesturing towards one of the wooden pillars, which twisted and slammed against the Titania's head.

Flute opened her mouth to order them to stop, but hesitated. There was something in the air, a most peculiar warm feeling rising in her belly as she watched the enthusiastic fighting. A sense of homeliness, or perhaps a feeling of belonging.

"Oh dear, we all seem to be out of control." Flute glanced sideways to see Mira peacefully tending to the bar. "Sorry about this mother, I don't know what's come over us."

Happy flew down and slammed a watermelon onto her head.

"AYE SIR!" he screamed, doing a midair loop and rocketing back into the brawl.

Flute's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. _She _was being affected by the residual feelings of this body. This girl Lucy's emotions were making her feel content in the middle of such nonsense.

Flute considered this. She examined her mind and body, attempting to spot some flaw in her domination, but there was nothing. This was all quite simply residual feelings of the Fairy Tail mages.

How strange!

Macao tumbled from the second floor, landing on top of Droy and throwing fire in every direction. Reedus managed to get to his feet long enough to tip forward and squish them beneath him.

Perhaps she should just allow this to run its course. These residual instincts would naturally fade with time. Even so, what a rowdy bunch these fairies were. Flute had seen packs of demons that were less trigger-happy.

Nonetheless, that did not mean _she_ had to participate in such boorishness. Children would be children, but Flute had work to do. She stepped away from the bar and moved towards the door. Even in the state of such wild abandon, her children still instinctively gave way, clearing a path for her passage. She would resume her work and if she came back later and this fight was still going on, then she would take the time to discipline them all quite_ thoroughly_.

"LOVE RIVAL!"

A jet of water blasted out of the crowd and slammed into Flute, sending her sprawling.

Everything froze.

Her children sat motionless, their arms still wrapped wrapping around each other and their spells stopping in midair. It was like some kind of surreal photograph as they forgot to even make their hosts breathe. All any of them could do was stare in glassy-eyed horror at their fallen mother and silently dread what was about to happen.

Right then. _Discipline_ _first._

Slowly, very slowly, Flute sat up, her eyes landing on Juvia. The water mage's face looked incensed, but Flute cold see the demon behind them recoiling in fear and absolute horror. Flute's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and all the possessed mages flinched, tipping tables over and taking shelter behind them in a sudden brilliant display of motor control. Macao and Droy stopped trying to struggle out from under Reedus and instead huddled beneath his bulk.

"Do tell," Flute began, her words cutting through the air like a knife of frozen oil. "What exactly do you all-" Flute blinked, cutting herself short; there was a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Cana. She had landed on the Card mage when the blast of water had sent her flying. The possessed mage sighed happily as her wet hair clung to her face.

"Did it hurt?" Cana asked, her words slurring.

"Excuse me?" Flute's eyebrow inched upward.

"When you fell from heaven." Cana finished happily, pressing herself against Flute's back.

The atmosphere in the hall went from chilly to subzero, even as the tension in the air almost seemed to break under the sheer weight of cliché.

For once in her long, long existence. Flute found herself speechless. She sat there, staring as the card mage cuddled up against her. The situation made more awkward by the inadvertent groans of appreciation from the demons in male bodies.

At long last, Flute spoke. "I am your _mother_."

"Yeah you are." Cana purred, her hands sliding dangerously lower. She started nibbling on flute's ear. "You can be my _mama._"

Flute's pupils shrunk to mere pinpricks.

S&amp;D

Flute shut the guild doors behind her, erasing the last ten minutes from her memory from sheer force of will.

Despite herself, she glanced back. The guildhall was still standing, ever if somehow the roof appeared to have been blown off. She couldn't seem to recall what had just happened, but she had a vague recollection of water, uncomfortable amounts of touching, lots of explosions, and a very strong desire to take a bath.

She put it out of her mind. Reprieves were for neophytes, anyway, and she had work to do. Nonetheless, she made a mental note to, once grandfather arrived, come back and burn what was left of the guildhall to the ground. Just to be thorough.

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End file.
